The Potter Twins and the Prisoner of Azkaban
by GryffindorGirl347
Summary: Harry and Emily Potter go into their third year at Hogwarts to discover that the mysterious murderer Sirius Black is after them for something that happened in the past, but maybe things aren't as they seem. Sequel. Cover image drawn by emilie012 on Tumblr.
1. Birthday Wishes

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 1**

"You know what would be great Emily?" Harry asked me from behind his books.

"What?" I asked as I finished up my essay about trolls for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"If you could write my Potions essay for me."

"You're hilarious," I laughed.

"Please," he begged me.

"Harry, it's only on Shrinking Potions," I said. "It's not that bad."

"That's only because you've practically memorized every potions book that we've been given…"

We were both sitting in our room doing some of the summer work that we had gotten from Hogwarts. In the beginning of the summer, I managed to stow away all of the homework I had underneath a board in the floor. Harry didn't get to do the same thing, but he managed to pick the lock to the cupboard that all of our school things were locked into.

I had finished most of my homework already, being as I got started on it as soon as I could. Potions, being my favorite subject, was the one that I finished first and Harry seemed to feel that I should write his essay too. He was out of his mind.

"That's beside the point," I told him. "I already wrote down the instructions for the potion, all you have to do is put it in essay form!"

"Fine…" he whined.

After that I got started on writing my essay for History of Magic, my worst subject. It wasn't as bad at the moment only because I didn't have to listen to Professor Binns' droning voice that managed to put me to sleep every time we had his class. Once I had gotten through half of the essay, I heard Harry's watch beep meaning that it had finally reached midnight.

"Happy birthday, Emily," Harry said.

"Happy birthday," I smiled.

I reached over to my bedside table and pulled a small card out of the drawer. Harry went over to the desk that was in our room and pulled out a card also. I handed mine to him and he handed his to me. It was a tradition that we had to give each other a homemade birthday card every year that had some short little message in it. I guess it came to be back when no one else really cared about us.

_Thank you for being here for me even when no one else was. Hope your thirteenth birthday is as great as mine! Love, Harry._

Inside of the card was a picture of us when we were little babies, our parents were in the background waving at us.

"Thanks," I smiled as I started at the picture.

I walked over to let Hoot and Hedwig out of their cages so that they could fly around outside. Uncle Vernon finally allowed us to do this, but we had to promise that we wouldn't be sending any letters. I had broken this rule only a couple of times…probably more than that, but I never got caught.

"Thanks, Emily," Harry said as he finished reading the letter.

When Harry stood up I noticed that he had gotten a little bit taller over the summer. We always managed to stay about the same height as each other, but I think that he might even be a little taller than me now.

Even though we were both twins, we didn't really look that much alike. The only thing that we had in common was our eyes. We both had bright green eyes that looked just like our mother's eyes according to everyone that we came in contact with.

Harry had messy, jet black hair and round glasses that sat on his nose. Right in the middle of his forehead, hidden by his hair, was a lightening bolt scar. I had long, red hair and did not wear glasses like my brother. I also had a lightening shaped scar that was on my forehead, however, the one that I had ran down the right side of my face, just passed the bottom of my ear. We were both very skinny and small for our age.

Suddenly several owls flew into the room, each of them holding letters. One of them I recognized to be Ron's owl, Errol, the one that always flew into things.

"Wow…" I said looking at all of the owls that were coming into our room.

"Let's see who wrote us…" Harry said as he walked towards the first owl.

I walked over to the owl closet to me - it was a brown barn owl. When I picked up the letter, I immediately recognized the handwriting to be Hermione's.

_Dear Emily,_

_Happy birthday! I'm sorry for not calling you on the telephone, but Ron told me that he tried to call the other day. Apparently he had been yelling over the phone because he couldn't understand how to use it. Silly boys! Anyway, I hope that the Dursleys aren't treating you too badly this summer. Make sure Harry gets his work done - I know that you will!_

_Hope you have a wonderful birthday!_

_Hermione_

I smiled as I read through the letter and remembered the phone call that Hermione was talking about. Ron had called up during the summer and Uncle Vernon had answered it. Ron was screaming over it because he didn't realize that you could hear someone perfectly if they just spoke normally. I opened up Hermione's gift and saw that it was a book of some really advanced potions. It seemed that she always gave me potions books…

"What is that?" I asked Harry when I saw a spinning top made of glass.

"It's a…" Harry looked pack at the letter. "Sneakascope…it's supposed to warn me if any intruders are near. Is that another potions book?"

"Yes it is," I smiled.

"Are you actually going to read that?" he asked. "I don't think that you have to read about advanced potions for our third year."

"I know, but I probably will anyway," I said. "I actually enjoy that class…"

I walked over to the next owl which handed me a letter from Ron.

_Dear Emily,_

_Happy birthday! Sorry I wasn't that creative with the gift that I gave you - it's the same one that I gave to Harry. I figured that they could come in some use. I heard that Hermione gave you another potions book. Do you actually read those? They seem pretty terrible. Anyway, I sent along a Daily Prophet and it has my family on the front page! We got to go to Egypt this summer! Well, I hope that you and Harry can come over later this summer, I imagine that it's been hell over there since I called and yelled at your uncle - sorry about that…hope to see you later!_

_Ron_

Attached to it was another Sneakascope - I thought that it was pretty neat actually. The same owl handed me two more letters. I assumed already who they were from.

_Dear Emily,_

_HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I'm not really sure if this will actually make it over there because Ickle Ronnie-kins told me about that telephone call that he made to your aunt and uncle's house - I hope that they aren't being too mean to you. I wouldn't have to come over there again - haha!_

_Your favorite Weasley twin,_

_Fred_

_P.S. Make sure that you aren't around the Muggles when you open this. I made sure to put that charm you taught us on it to make sure that it wasn't loud, so don't worry about that._

When I read the postscript, I immediately grew concerned as to what the gift was. It was probably something explosive knowing Fred. When I unwrapped the gift, I saw that it was some kind of fireworks. I could only imagine…

I held it outside the window and lit it on fire with a match that I had near the candle in our room. Right when I did, the fireworks flew out into the darkness and exploded quietly into the sky. It read out in multiple different colors the words _HAPPY BIRTHDAY_ and had a smiling face next to it that I assumed was Fred.

"Nice," Harry laughed when he saw it.

"You should be jealous," I laughed.

I opened up the next letter after that.

_Dear Emily,_

_HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Just so you know, my gift to you is way better than Fred's gift, just saying. I hope that the Dursleys aren't treating you too badly after Ron's phone call - he's an idiot by the way. Speaking of idiots, did you hear that Percy's been named Head Prick? He's been prancing around in his little Head Boy badge ever sense he got it from Hogwarts. It's actually really annoying to be quite honest. He got all mad when I enchanted it to say Head Prick too, Fred got a picture of it (it's attached to this letter) and it's so funny! Anyway, I hope that you've been having a good summer, see you on the first of September!_

_The better of the Weasley twins,_

_George_

Attached to it, as promised, was a picture of Percy in his "Head Prick" badge chasing George around the Burrow. George was laughing a lot and Percy's face was red and he looked like he was yelling.

I smiled and then picked up the gift that was next to it. Inside of it was a bunch of different kinds of candy that had a note next to it saying:

_Don't eat these! These are some extra tricks that Fred and I made over the summer and I was hoping that you could test them out on Dudley or something. Enjoy!_

These could come in handy…

_Dear Emily,_

_Happy birthday! Oh, Gran says happy birthday too. I couldn't really get you much because Gran told me that there is more to a friendship than gifts or something. She's crazy…anyway, I hope that your birthday is great - tell Harry I said happy birthday too. See you at school!_

_Neville_

Attached was a variety of different kinds of candies and cookies. I looked over to the owl next to it and I saw two giant textbooks that appeared to be moving around. I motioned for Harry to come over and look at them.

"What are they?" he asked.

I flipped over the first book and I instantly knew who had sent them.

"The Monster Book of Monsters?" Harry asked.

"Hagrid…" I muttered.

Then, without warning, the books started biting and growling at Harry and me. We jumped out of their way as they ran around the room. We tried to figure out a way to stop them and I grabbed onto a belt that way nearby. I jumped onto one of the books and managed to keep it still long enough to strap it down; Harry did the same.

"Definitely Hagrid," Harry said. "I hope that didn't wake anyone up…"

We stayed silent for a moment and then heard our cousin's snoring in the next room. They were still sound asleep. Then we picked up the letter:

_Dear Harry and Emily,_

_Happy Birthday! Think you might find this useful for next year. Won't say no more here. Tell you when I see you. Hope the Muggles are treating you right. _

_All the best, Hagrid_

"Only Hagrid would send us a book that tried to eat us…" Harry laughed.

Then we opened up the final letter, no doubt that it was the Hogwarts letter that we received each year to say what all we needed to buy for school.

_Dear Miss Potter, _

_Please note that the new school year will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave ftom King's Cross station, platform nine and three-quarters, at eleven o'clock. Third years are permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade on certain weekends. Please give the enclosed permission form to your parent or guardian to sign. A list of books for next year is enclosed. _

_Yours sincerely, _

_Professor M. McGonagall Deputy Headmistress_

"Like Uncle Vernon is going to sign this," I muttered.

"Yeah, there's no way that they'll sign this…" Harry sighed.

"Maybe we could forge the signature…or trick them into doing it or something…"

"You've been hanging around Fred and George too long," Harry laughed.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading - I hope that you liked it! I figured that I might as well start off this story with a question for you all: what is something that you are looking forward to in this story or what is something that you hope is going to happen? You don't necessarily have to answer these questions, I just figured I'd ask something. As always, if you have any suggestions, tell me! PLEASE REVIEW!<strong>


	2. Aunt Marge's Mistake

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 2**

"You can just tell that he's dangerous!" Uncle Vernon said. "Just look at him - especially that hair!"

We were sitting at the table that morning, none of them saying a word about our birthday as usual. When we walked into the kitchen, Uncle Vernon had the news turned on and they were talking about a man that had escaped from prison. From what I had gathered, the man's name was Sirius Black and he had killed a lot of people or something like that. He looked sickly thin and miserable, not to mention he looked as though he had never heard of a shower before.

I just ignored the Dursleys as I thought about sneaking a piece of that "candy" that George had given me to Dudley. I figured that now wasn't the best time though…too many witnesses.

"Well, I better be off," Uncle Vernon said. "Marge's train should be arriving shortly."

I started to choke on the toast that I was eating. It took me a good while before I could speak again and Harry asked them exactly what was on my mind.

"Aunt Marge is coming?"

Aunt Marge was Uncle Vernon's sister and was just as bad, if not worse, as her brother. I dreaded every single visit that she made to this horrible house. On several occasions, she would walk over to me and start pulling on my hair telling me that it was a dreadful color - red hair meant that you were the spawn of Satan in her opinion. After that, she would go on and on about how awful the scar was on my forehead and that I should try to cover it up with make-up because it made me even uglier than I already was. Other times, Aunt Marge took joy in hitting me in the head with her cane and shouting at me for not standing up straight like a proper lady should.

"She will be here for a week," Uncle Vernon said. "So I suggest that you two mind yourselves."

"As long as she does…" I mumbled.

"She is not aware of your…abnormalities," Uncle Vernon said. "She is under the impression that you two are enrolled St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys and Girls."

"What?" Harry yelled.

"Only on one condition," I said.

Dudley, who had been watching something on the television, turned and laughed at what I had said and waited for his father to tell me off. Apparently this was more entertaining than the show that he was watching.

"What would that be?" he laughed.

"If you sign our permission forms for a trip that we are going on at our school," I said.

Uncle Vernon's face went red with anger as he slammed the door to the house shut and left for the train station. After Harry and I cleaned up the kitchen, we ran up to our room to set the owls out. There was no way they could stay there without having Aunt Marge ask questions.

I finished up writing all of my replies to the letters that I had received and sent Hoot out. He was going to stay out of the house the entire week along with Hedwig over at Ron's house.

About ten minutes later, a car pulled into the driveway and I knew that it was Uncle Vernon with Aunt Marge. In other words, my own personal hell was about to get worse.

"Get the door!" Aunt Petunia yelled at us.

Harry rolled his eyes as he turned to open the front door to let them inside of the house. Something that both of us was dreading with every ounce of our being.

"Where's my little Dudders?" she said.

"I'm right here!" Dudley smiled and waddled over to his aunt.

Marge grabbed Dudley and pulled him into a tight hug and kissed him on the cheek.

"Gag me with a fork," I said loud enough for only Harry to hear.

Harry smiled and tried to hide it quickly when Marge turned to him and me.

"You still haven't got rid of _these_ things, Vernon?" she spat.

"Would you like some tea, Marge?" Aunt Petunia smiled.

Marge nodded as she stepped forward towards us and narrowed her eyes, undoubtedly forming a bunch of insults that she could throw at us.

"I see that neither of you have cut your hair," she said. "It looks awful. You know that red hair is the sign of a witch girl?"

Harry's jaw dropped and I immediately started coughing. Uncle Vernon's face went pale as he pulled on his sister's large arms to try to direct her attention elsewhere.

"Is that so?" I coughed.

"Yes, it is," she rolled her eyes. "If it were me that received the spawn of Satan and her twin at _my _doorstep, I would have sent them away at once."

"The spawn of Satan?" I muttered. "Are we really going through this again?"

She didn't hear me because Uncle Vernon started talking over me and was asking Marge about how her life was going. That seemed to take her attention away from Harry and me as we made our way to the dining room to start dinner.

When we sat down, Marge immediately started talking about how wonderful Dudley was and how we would never amount to anything. I tried my best to ignore her and try to think about the essay that I was writing the night before.

"You can't really blame yourself," she said throwing a look at Harry and me. "It's one of the basic rules of breeding - if there's something wrong with the bitch, there will be something wrong with the pups -"

Suddenly, her wine glass shattered into pieces.

"MARGE!" Aunt Petunia shrieked.

"Oh, I'm fine!" she said. "I just have a firm grip!"

It definitely wasn't her grip that broke the glass though. It was Harry and me. Similar situations have happened before in the years before - when we lose our temper, something weird happens.

The week went by fairly well considering. However, on the third day of her stay, I tried something out. One of the "candies" that George had given me for my birthday came in pretty handy. She was going on about how I was the spawn of Satan and that I should be burned at the stake for being a witch (something that Uncle Vernon constantly went pale about).

I slipped a piece of candy to the table next to her, receiving a look from Harry who was the only one who noticed. Right when she noticed the shiny treat, she reached over to it and threw it into her mouth. After a few minutes, the trick went into effect when pimples started forming all over her body. Luckily, they formed at such a slow rate that the Dursleys didn't suspect any magic was involved.

"Oh Marge, it must have been something that I cooked!" Aunt Petunia said.

Right as Marge was about to say something, one of the pimples on her forehead popped and the puss ran right down her nose. She looked furious and disgusted.

Harry and I had to hold back our laughter until we made it back to our room.

"That was brilliant!" he laughed. "Where did you get that?"

"George gave me a bunch of them for my birthday," I said. "He wanted me to test them out on Dudley, but I figured that Marge would do."

Finally, after what seemed like years, the last day of Marge's visit came around. I couldn't be any happier. All we had to do was make it through a final dinner with her and she would be off and our permission slips for Hogsmeade would be signed.

A huge feast was prepared for her last night there and surprisingly, Harry and I were allowed to join this feast. Marge didn't make a single comment about either of us during the beginning of the meal, but as soon as she began drinking brandy, she started up again.

"What did you say Potter did for a living?"

There was silence for a moment and Uncle Vernon glanced over at us for a moment before he opened up his mouth.

"He didn't do anything, he was unemployed."

"What a shock!" Marge laughed. "I should have known that he wouldn't do a damn thing towards society. He was just a lazy, good-for-nothing-"

"My father was a great man," Harry said suddenly.

I felt my blood start to boil as soon as she started talking about my parents again. It was one thing if she talked about me, but an entirely different scenario if she started talking about my parents.

"Proud of your parents, boy?" she snickered. "Proud that they were good for nothing and got themselves in a car accident - they were probably drunk-"

"They didn't die in a car crash!" Harry shouted.

"Don't lie to me boy!" Marge shouted. "They died in a car wreck because they were drunk! Then they left the both of you little brats in the hands of their hardworking relatives-"

"Say one more thing, I dare you, you filthy whor-"

"EMILY!" Aunt Petunia yelled.

Then something odd happened. Beside me, I noticed Marge starting to swell up like a balloon. She was already big to begin with, but her clothes started to stretch as her body became larger and larger. Then she started to rise from her chair.

"MARGE!" Uncle Vernon shouted.

Marge's now inflated body began to float towards the door of the house and flew right out of it. Uncle Vernon began to chase her out towards the backyard of the house, grabbing at her ankles in attempt to get her to return to the ground.

Harry and I both looked at each other and then stormed out of the kitchen and towards the cupboard under the stairs. The door burst open as we got close to it and Harry grabbed everything that was in there. I ran up the stairs and grabbed everything that belonged to us out of the bedroom and came back downstairs to shove it into our trunks.

"WHERE DO YOU THINK THAT YOUR GOING?" Uncle Vernon shouted as he ran back into the house and saw that we already had our things packed. "YOU'RE GOING TO PUT HER RIGHT AGAIN! RIGHT NOW!"Both Harry and I pointed our wands at him at the same time, making him fall backwards and land on his butt.

"Like hell we are," I snarled.

"We've had enough," Harry said as he opened the front door to the house.

We walked out of the house and out into the street. After walking for a while, I thought of something.

"Harry…where are we going?"

"I don't know…" Harry said.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading - I hope that you liked it. I know that not much is really happening at the moment and that's probably because I don't really care for writing about what happens to them during the summer break with the Dursleys - it's not really that interesting to me. Tell me what you think so far and maybe some ideas for future chapters. PLEASE REVIEW!<strong>

**By the way, I don't think that I will be posting anything tomorrow because I've been pretty sick lately and I have a lot of school work to make up. Sorry!**


	3. Runaways

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 3**

I walked through the streets for a while with Harry. We didn't know where we were going or what we were doing. We were homeless and poor and we had just broken the law against underage magic.

"Do you think that they'll break our wands like they did to Hagrid?" I asked.

"I don't know, but I don't really want to find out," Harry said.

We walked a little further and ran into a bench that sat on the side of the road. We sat down for a minute, trying to decide what our next move would be. Then I saw something moving in the bushes.

"What was that?" we said at the same time.

We looked at each other and then simultaneously pulled out our wands. We pointed them towards the bush, ready to fight whatever was inside of them.

"Lumos!" I said.

For only a second I saw a huge outline of what appeared to be some kind of animal. It had huge, yellow eyes that were looking directly at the two of us.

I didn't see anything else because in the next moment, I was laying on the ground. In front of me, what had apparently knocked me over, was a triple decker bus. Harry sat on the ground too, staring off into the distance where the animal had just been.

"What are you doing on the ground?" a man asked.

I looked back at the bus and saw a man standing at the door of it. He wore a purple outfit that matched the color of the bus, which I had just now realized read The Knight Bus. Harry stood up quickly and helped me up too.

"Sorry," Harry said. "We just tripped."

The man straightened up his jacket and made sure he looked all proper, stood up straight and started talking.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike and I will be your conductor this evening."

"Anywhere?" I asked.

"That's what I says!" Stan said. "Aren't ya listenin'?"

"Can you take us to London?"

"That'll be eleven Sickles, what did ya say yer names were?"

There was silence for a moment. We couldn't tell him our real names in case the Ministry was looking for us so they could snap our wands.

"I'm Neville Longbottom," Harry said.

"Hermione Granger," I said.

"Okay Neville and Hermione," he said looking at our foreheads strangely. "Just get your stuff in this here bus and we'll be gone in no time."

Harry grabbed his luggage, but Stan quickly grabbed for mine. He didn't give me a second look, so I assumed that it was customary for him to help with the bags.

Right when we sat down, I looked nervously over at Harry. I wasn't sure who these people were, but what if the recognized us?

Stan walked to the front of the bus and started saying something to the old man that was driving the bus. I looked around and noticed several other people in there, all of them were asleep.

"Harry...should we trust these people?" I whispered. "What if they turn us in?"

"We don't really have much of a choice now," he frowned.

I kept looking around the bus, still afraid that someone would recognize us. Just look at the way Stan looked at our scars? Someone was going to put two and two together and realize that we weren't supposed to be there.

"It's going to be fine," Harry whispered and squeezed my hand.

"Here we go!" Stan yelled.

Suddenly the bus took off. Outside of the windows I could see things flying by quickly. There were loud banging noises coming from the sides of the bus as if it was about to fall to pieces if we kept moving.

"What if the Muggles see us?" Harry yelled over all the noise.

"Muggles?" Stan laughed. "Them don't hear nuthin' or see nuthin.' They don't pay attention, you see?"

"Oh..." Harry said as he looked out of the window.

I looked around the bus and I saw several people sitting around and some were laying down on beds that were in the back of the bus. When I looked up front, I saw a poster with a familiar face on it. It was the man that I had seen on the news that Uncle Vernon had been watching before.

"Who is that man?" I asked Stan. "I saw him on the Muggle news!"

Stan looked around for a minute and then finally noticed that I was talking about the man that was on the wanted poster.

"'Him?" he asked sounding a bit shocked. "You don't know who Sirius Black is?"

"No..." I said and I looked over to Harry who looked just as confused as I did.

"Let me see that," Harry said and he took the paper with Sirius Black on it.

As he read through the paper, I started to talk to Stan about who exactly this guy was.

"So, what did Black do that was so bad?" I asked him.

"You don't get out much, do ya Miss?" Stan asked me. "Sirius Black is a murderer! He done killed thirteen people with one curse!"

"Thirteen people?" I said.

"That's right!" Stan said. "He was a big supporter of You-Know-Who! Right after dem Potter twins killed You-Know-Oo, he went crazy in da streets and killed a bunch o' people!"

Right after he said the Potter twins, I made sure that my hair was covering up my scar. Ever since I was little, I always had side bangs to cover up the scar. It wasn't really my own decision, it was more Aunt Petunia wanting to make sure the hideous scar on my forehead was covered up.

"You know what he did after 'e was caught?" Stan asked. "He started laughin' like a mad man! He was crazy that man was..."

"If he was caught, why would there be posters up?" Harry asked.

"'Cause he got out, Neville!" Stan said. "Don't ya read the papers? The mad man is on the loose and everyone is goin' crazy lookin' for 'im! Some people think that them Askaban guards let 'im out...they are kinda scary..."

It was silent after that, well, the bus was still making noise, but not a single person in it was talking. I looked out the window and watched as everything passed at what seemed to be the speed of light. Then, within minutes, we arrived at the Leaky Cauldron in London.

We waved to Stan as we stepped out, but were confronted as soon as we moved forward.

"Just the people that I wanted to see!" the man said. "Harry and Emily Potter!"

It was Cornelius Fudge - the Minister of Magic. Just the man that we were trying to avoid.

"What did ya just call 'em Minister?" Stan asked. "That's Hermione and Neville!"

"What?" Fudge asked. "These two are Harry and Emily Potter..."

"I knew it!" Stan yelled. "I done seen their scars and everything!"

"Yes..." he said. "Well, we need to talk," he said to us."

We both hung our heads in shame, knowing that we had been caught. I thought of all the people that we were going to leave behind. The world that we would never be able to see again. Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, Fred...George...we would never see them again because we were criminals. Criminals that got caught.

As we walked into the Leaky Cauldron, we were greeted by Tom, the owner. He lead us into a private room where the Minister would be able to yell at us properly and snaps our wands in half. Snap our lives in half is more like it...

"Sit down, you two."

We both sat down in the arm chairs that were around the room and looked at the floor.

"I am happy to see that the two of you are safe!" he said happily. "I thought that you might have been...nevermind. You should be happy to know that your aunt is back to normal and everything has been sorted out just fine!

There was a long drawn out silence between all of us. I was waiting for more, but nothing came.

"So..." I started. "What's our punishment?"

"For what?" Fudge asked sounding confused.

"We performed underage magic," Harry said.

"We broke the law!" I said.

"We're not going to punish you two for what you've done tonight!" he said with the wave of his hand. "It was an accident!"

I felt so much better after he said that. We would be going back to Hogwarts!

"So, I'm going to go get a room for the two of you to stay at for the remainder of the break," Fudge said as he exited the room.

There was a moments silence when he was gone, but then I turned to Harry who looked completely shocked.

"We're going back to Hogwarts!" I said smiling. "AND we don't have to go back to the Dursleys! To think that we were going to get punished - this is more of a reward!"

"Yeah, maybe we should do this more often," Harry laughed.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I know that it wasn't that much, sorry! I'm going to be posting a new chapter every other day for a little while and I'm sorry for that. A lot of things have come up recently with school and my dad's wedding, so I hope that you all understand that I don't have as much time as I want and I really hope that you stick with the story!<strong>

**Tell me what you think of this chapter and maybe add in some ideas for future chapters. If you all have any questions, I will be happy to answer them! PLEASE REVIEW!**


	4. The Search for Harry

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**

**Chapter 4**

I woke up the next morning happier than I had been all summer. I was finally free from the Dursleys and I could do pretty much whatever I wanted for the rest of the week (however, Fudge did say I wasn't allowed to roam around in the Muggle world - I had to stay in the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley).

I threw on some shorts and a t-shirt and went to Gringotts with Harry first thing the next morning because we thought that it would be a good idea to get all of our school supplies while the streets weren't packed with people.

"I'm going to the Quidditch store, okay?" Harry said as he slowly drifted off into that direction after we had picked up our supplies.

"I'm just going to look around," I said. "See you later!"

I walked on ahead and saw all of the different shops that I never really got the chance to look in during my usual visits here. In fact, I normally just found what I was looking for and left.

To my right, I saw Gambol & Japes, the joke shop. My first thought went to Fred and George as I stood in front if the shop. This was their heaven...they loved it here.

I walked into the shop and saw No-Heat Fireworks and all kinds of other things that I had seen Fred and George use on people in previous years. I had started to see less of these when they started making joke products of their own.

"Hey!" I heard someone yell.

I turned and saw none other than the Weasley twins standing towards the back of the store. Fred was talking to who I assumed to be the manager and George was smiling over at me.

"Hey!" I smiled and walked over to them.

When I got over there he threw his arms around me and pulled me into a tight hug. I started laughing and hugged him back. I could help but noticed that he smelled really good...

"What are you doing in here?" I asked him, his arms still around me. "I thought you made your own joke products now."

"We do," he said. "We were asking some things about owning your own joke shop."

I started to say something, but Fred spoke up; the manager had gone back into his office for a minute.

"Aren't you two just adorable," he laughed.

George, realizing the he still had his arms around me, backed up quickly and started blushing.

"Shut up Fred," George said and poked him in his side.

Fred laughed and gave me a quick hug before I asked them a question.

"Are you two really going to open up your own joke shop?" I asked them.

"We're considering it," Fred smiled.

"That's brilliant! Where are you going to make it?" I asked.

"We were thinking either in Hogsmeade or here in Diagon Alley," George said.

We talked for a while about everything they were planning on doing. They told me that they would have to come up with a lot more products in order to actually fill up the store.

"We're going to have to test them out on people too," Fred said. "That's what we want to do at Hogwarts after we've come up with enough."

"Did you test out those ones I gave you for your birthday?" George asked while rubbing his hands together.

"Yeah, except I didn't use them on Dudley," I said. "I used one on my Aunt Marge-"

"The one that says you're the spawn of Satan?" George asked.

"That's the one!" I laughed. "She broke out into all of these pimples - said that she must have been allergic to something."

"How long did it take to go away?" George smiled deviously.

"A few days," I said. "They were disgusting!"

"Excellent!" Fred and George said together.

We kept talking as we left the shop and went to sit down at a table that was nearby.

"Hey Emily!" someone said.

Fred and George stopped talking and looked up to see who it was. Neville was standing there with his gran close by him; she was talking to another older lady.

"Hey Neville!" I smiled.

I couldn't help but notice that a certain red-headed twin was giving Neville a stare down.

"Why are you here so early?" he said. "Normally people wait a while to get their stuff."

"Oh, I'm staying at the Leaky Cauldron, Harry and I were having some...problems with the Dursleys."

"Problems?" he asked.

"Yeah, we-"

"Why hello there!" Gran cut in. "Emily Potter, nice to see you! Neville here was just telling me about some prank you pulled on a teacher of yours."

"Oh, that was mostly these two that came up with that idea," I said as I put my arms around them both.

"It's not very lady like of you Miss Potter," Mrs. Longbottom said. "And apparently these two boys are a terrible influence on you."

Neville suddenly looked mortified, but Fred and George almost seemed proud about what she has said. Mrs. Longbottom gave me a stern look and then started to walk away.

"Ignore her..." Neville muttered. "She's insane..."

"Come one Neville!" Mrs. Longbottom called.

"See you later, Neville," I smiled at him.

He waved at all of us as he walked off to his grandmother. I suddenly started to wonder what had happened to his parents. I'd never actually heard him mention them before and I already knew that his grandmother was the one that took care of him.

"We're bad influences," Fred said.

"I'm so proud!" George said while waving his hand dramatically.

"I never thought we would see the day!" Fred said.

* * *

><p>Days flew by during our stay at the Leaky Cauldron. Harry had shown me the newest broomstick, the Firebolt, something I had to pretend to be interested in as Harry went on and on about it. Quidditch wasn't a bad sport, but it didn't interest me as much as it did Harry. I tried to be supportive.<p>

That afternoon I stopped by Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and bought some ice cream. Harry told me that they had the best ice cream in the world, so I figured I might try it. He would have come with me, but he said that he wanted to look at the Firebolt one that time.

I sat on one of the benches and watched all of the people go by. It was the last day of the holidays, so a lot of people were there picking up some last day items.

"What are you doing here Potter?" I heard a familiar sneer.

Beside me stood Draco Malfoy with his usually I'm-better-than-everyone-else expression on his face. The only thing that seemed to have changed about him was his height.

"It's Diagon Alley..." I said. "A lot of people are here in case you didn't notice."

"Don't get smart with me," he said. "I thought you were going to be expelled for blowing up your aunt."

"How did you know about that?" I asked him.

Draco sat down next to me and threw his arm around my shoulders and smirked.

"You see," he said. "My father's in the Ministry, so I always know things."

I shrugged his arm off and rolled my eyes.

"Aren't you just special," I muttered. "If your father knows so much, then be should have hears that I wasn't expelled."

"Why not?" Draco asked. "You should have been."

"Apparently the Minister just loves me that much," I said sarcastically.

"A girl with power..." he smirked. "How attractive."

"What are you playing at Malfoy?" I said.

"Nothing at all, my dear," he smirked.

"I'm so confused..." I muttered.

I walked off and just looked through the windows of all the shops, seeing several familiar faces. Then I saw Ron, Harry, and Hermione walking through the street. Hermione was holding a cat in her hands.

"Emily!" Hermione smiles when she saw me.

"Hey!" I smiled. "You bought a cat?"

"An evil cat," Ron said. "The thing keeps attacking Scabbers..."

"It's a rat, Ronald," Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's in Crookshanks nature to attack it."

Harry rolled his eyes as they continued to fight.

"Where have you been?" Harry asked.

"Oh, I went to go get some ice cream."

"Isn't it great?"

"It was excellent," I smiled. "Except when Draco came over."

"Malfoy is here?" Harry groaned.

"Yeah and I think he was trying to hit on me," I said with disgust.

"What?" Harry said, his jaw dropping.

Hermione and Ron stopped fighting when they heard what I said.

"You're kidding, right?" Ron asked.

"I wish," I mumbled.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I hope that you liked it! PLEASE REVIEW!<strong>


	5. Sirius Black is Looking for Us?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**

**Chapter 5**

During the last night of our stay at the Leaky Cauldron and summer in general, we had dinner with the Weasleys and Hermione who had all decided to stay the night so we could all leave for the train together.

"How exactly are we going to get to Kings Cross tomorrow?" I asked Mr. Weasley while we ate.

"The Ministry is providing cars for us to take there," he answered.

"Oh, fancy," I smiled.

"Why would they provide us with cars, Father?" Percy asked.

I rolled my eyes. Percy had always tried to act older than he really was, which was incredibly annoying. George had told me over the summer that he had been doing everything in his power to get a spot in the Ministry of Magic once he was finished with school.

"It probably has something to do with the fact that your father works at the Ministry," I said.

"No, that couldn't be the reason," Fred said. "It's because of you Percy."

"They want to put little flags on the side of the car with HB written on there," George said.

"Yeah, for Humongous Bighead," Fred said.

Fred and George gave each other a high five as Harry and I laughed. We never really cared for Percy…he was kind of a bighead…

Harry continued to talk to Mr. Weasley as I turned and listened to the other side of the table where the younger people were.

"Did you hear about Malfoy?" Ron asked his twin brothers.

"What did he do?" Fred asked.

Ron laughed and turned in my direction, as if implying that he wanted me to tell the story or something.

"You mean about what happened earlier?" I asked. "What makes you think I would spread that around?"

Hermione laughed and turned to the twins.

"Draco Malfoy was hitting on Emily earlier today," she said.

"What?" Fred dropped his fork.

Fred busted out laughing and started coughing on the food he had in his mouth. George, on the other hand, looked completely stunned and his face went a little pink.

"You're kidding right?" Fred asked in the middle of his coughing.

"He just walked over to me and started going on about how powerful his father was," I said while rolling my eyes. "Then he mentioned what happened over the summer, you know with Aunt Marge, and I said that I wasn't expelled because the Minister liked us or something - as a joke of course - and he said that a woman with power was attractive."

"That's golden," Fred laughed.

"Then he put his arm around me!" I said.

Fred was practically crying with laughter at this point, but his twin was the complete opposite. George remained silent through everything I had said and kept growing color in his face. He looked down at his plate and appeared to be acting like he wasn't listening.

Hermione, who sat to my right, nudged my arm and looked at George expectantly.

"What's wrong?" I asked George.

"Nothing…" George said. "It's just…never mind…"

I raised an eyebrow in his direction and then looked back to Hermione who was smiling like a complete idiot in my direction and looked like she had just witnessed something fantastic.

When dinner was all finished and we had cleaned up, Hermione dragged me up into the room that she was staying in and started smiling even more at me.

"What?" I asked after a moment.

"You're kidding, right?" she said.

I looked from side to side and then back at her.

"What?" I repeated.

"George likes you?" she squealed.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"He was completely jealous that Draco was talking to you and I have seen the way that he acts when Neville starts talking to you," she said. "He's jealous that you're getting all these guys attention!"

There was a pause.

"No," I said bluntly.

"Oh, come on!" Hermione said. "You know that George is adorable - LOOK! You're blushing!"

"You're insane!" I said. "What has gotten into you!"

"I am _not_ insane!" Hermione laughed. "You two would be absolutely adorable together!"

I rolled my eyes and walked out of the room, Hermione laughing and following me back down the stairs to where everyone else was sitting and talking. The first person I saw when I walked into the room was George, who was looking directly at me and smiled when I came down the stairs. Hermione nudged me in the arm and I rolled my eyes again.

"You're blushing," Hermione whispered.

"I'm going to kill you," I whispered back.

The next morning I woke up to Harry shaking me awake. It was still early, but apparently it was urgent.

"W-what?" I yawned.

"Emily, it's about Sirius Black," Harry said quietly.

"What about him?" I said and I slowly sat up.

"Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were talking downstairs," Harry whispered. "And I overheard them talking about Sirius Black - Emily, he's escaped prison to come looking after us-"

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "Why would he be looking for us?"

"He thinks that killing us off might help bring Voldemort back to power or something like that - but Mr. Weasley is sure that he is after us and he said that he heard something about him whispering about Hogwarts and that we were going to be there."

"How do you know it was about us though?"

"Because he was a huge follower of Voldemort and he wants us dead for being the ones that destroyed him!"

* * *

><p>It was difficult to sleep that night knowing that Harry and I were being chased by a murderer. I was completely anxious to be off to Hogwarts where I was at least protected by Dumbledore.<p>

As usual, we were in a complete rush that morning - it was insane. Everyone was packing last minute items and running back to make sure they had everything.

With twenty minutes to spare, the Ministry cars finally arrived and we all piled in. It was a tight fit and I was stuffed in between Harry and George. Hermione kept throwing looks back to me and giving me that same stupid grin from the night before…of course.

It felt like a century in the car being piled in next to George and having Hermione look at us every five seconds, but we finally managed to make it to the train. As soon as we did, I said my good-byes and was off into Platform 9 ¾. I had a sigh of relief when we finally walked onto the train.

Being as we were the last to walk into the train, there was only one compartment open and it had some random sleeping guy with the name Professor R. J. Lupin who we assumed was the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

"That was a nice car ride, wasn't it Emily?" Hermione asked once we were seated.

I rolled my eyes and Ron and Harry looked completely confused.

"Is this some kind of weird girl language?" Ron asked.

"No," I said. "This is the Hermione-is-a-complete-moron-and-needs-to-shut-her-big-mouth language."

"Whoa, what's going on?" Harry asked looking from Hermione to me.

"George and Emily love each other!" Hermione squealed.

Ron and Harry raised and eyebrow and looked over at me.

"She's insane," I said while rolling my eyes. "I never said such a thing."

"I can see it…" Harry nodded and Ron nodded too.

"You are all crazy," I said. "George and I are _just friends_!"

"Sure you are…" Ron said.

"That's why you've been writing all summer," Harry said.

"I've been writing to a lot of people!" I said.

"None that you've talked about continuously," Harry said.

"Oh look, she's going red in the face!" Ron laughed. "Don't worry, your lover boy was talking all about you this summer too. It's almost as bad as when Ginny was obsessing over Harry last summer…"

I hit Ron in the arm and he started laughing. Then, we turned to a different subject, Sirius Black. Once the train had been rolling for a while, Harry decided that Hermione and Ron should be told about everything that he had heard the night before. They, of course, were mortified when they heard about it.

Just when Hermione was talking about how worried we should be about the whole situation, someone came barging in front of our compartment door.

"Why look who it is," Draco Malfoy said. "Potty and Weasel!"

Crabbe and Goyle laughed behind him.

"Heard you all got some gold this summer, your mother must have been shocked!" he sneered.

Ron stood up angrily and Harry stood up too, making sure that Ron wouldn't attack Draco.

"Why, hello Emily," Draco winked at me.

"You stay away from her Malfoy," Harry snarled.

"You think that you can tell her what to do Potter?" Draco laughed.

"What makes you think that I would _ever_ fancy you Draco?" I said.

"Playing hard to get?" Draco smirked. "I like a feisty woman."

Ron gagged and Hermione looked sickened. Harry on the other hand looked furious.

"Back off Malfoy," Harry snarled and took a step forward.

Draco laughed and walked away with Crabbe and Goyle following closely behind him. Once they were gone, Ron and Harry sat back down into their seats.

"He's such a creep," Ron muttered.

Not a few minutes later, the train started to slow down, the rain was pouring outside. I looked over at Harry's watch - it was still early.

"There is no way that we are at Hogwarts yet," I said and looked outside of the compartment.

Suddenly, without warning, the train came to a complete stop and all the lights in the train shut off. I heard several people scream and a lot of other people start to panic.

"What's going on?" I asked, trying to move around the compartment.

"OW! Ron that was my foot!" Hermione said.

"Has the train broken down?" Harry asked.

The I felt someone fall down on me and a heard a grunt.

"Oops, sorry - does anyone know what's going on?"

"Oh, hi Neville!" Hermione said cheerfully.

"Hey Neville," I said. "You're kind of crushing me."

"Sorry - I can't see anything," he said.

The weight was lifted off of me as Neville moved around. I stood up again and tried to feel around the compartment to find out where I was.

"I'm going to go see what's going on-" Hermione said.

There were two screams and thuds that told me that Hermione had ran into someone else and fell down.

"Who's that?" Hermione said.

"Who's that?" someone else said.

"Ginny?"

"Hermione?"

Then there were two other thuds on the ground and a groan coming from two different people a little ways down the hallway.

"Watch it!" Fred said.

"No, you watch it!" George said.

"_You're _the one that wanted to leave the compartment!" Fred said. "You just had to go-"

"Quiet!" someone else yelled.

The unfamiliar voice came from the corner of the compartment and I assumed it to be Professor Lupin. A light filled the compartment and illuminated Lupin's tired face as he looked frantically around the compartment.

Then I saw something floating above us. Its face was covered by a hood and all I could see were its hands that looked slimy and scabbed.

Suddenly, I cold swept over me. Everything went black and all I could hear was a high-pitched screaming that kept getting louder and louder…

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I know that it was kind of late - sorry! The next chapter should be up tomorrow, just so you all know. Tell me what you thought of this chapter - PLEASE REVIEW!<strong>


	6. Chocolate is the Cure

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 6**

"Harry!"

"Emily!"

Suddenly everything came into focus. I was laying on the ground, Harry was next to me, and several people were surrounding us. The train was now moving and all of the lights were back on. I felt like I was going to throw up.

"Are you okay?" Neville asked me quietly, looking pale in the face.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine…" I said as I looked around the compartment.

Next to me, Harry was still unconscious, but he looked like he was coming around. Surrounding us were Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, Fred, and George - all of them looking paler as the next.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Who screamed?" Harry said as he looked around.

Everyone went silent and looked around at each other in confusion.

"No one screamed…" Hermione said slowly.

"Here, eat this," Lupin said holding out his hand.

He was holding chocolate and his hand which we both took with confusion. What was chocolate going to do?

"It'll help," Lupin said as if he heard my thoughts. "I'll be right back, eat that chocolate."

Lupin walked out of the crowded compartment and disappeared through the hall. Everyone around us was still staring at us with concern.

"What happened?" I repeated.

"There was a dementor in the compartment-" Hermione started.

"A what?" I asked.

"One of those things that guards Azkaban, right?" Harry spoke up.

"Yes," Ron said. "Well, you two just started…falling and twitching…"

"It was horrible…" Neville whispered.

"But Professor Lupin stepped in front of you two," Hermione said. "And said something about us not hiding Sirius Black with us…then Professor Lupin said some spell and they left…"

"Did anyone else feel how cold it got?" Fred asked, sounding a lot different than usual.

Everyone nodded and still looked terrified.

"So…no one else…went unconscious?" I asked slowly as I sat upright on the ground.

Harry stood up slowly and sat into the seat behind him. George walked over slowly and helped me stand up and walked me over to the chair. He sat close to me and looked paler than anyone else in the room.

"Are you sure you're okay?" George asked with a shaky voice.

I nodded slowly and looked to the ground in shame. Why was it that Harry and I were the only ones that fainted. Were we the weak ones? I didn't have any more time to think about it when Professor Lupin returned to the compartment.

"I didn't poison that, you know?" he told Harry and me.

I looked down at the chocolate and took a bite. Instantly I felt better when the warmth went throughout my body.

"We should be arriving at Hogwarts soon," Professor Lupin told us all. "Emily, Harry, are you okay?"

We both nodded. I didn't ask how he knew our names, I assumed it was the scars that we had on our heads, they were always a give away.

No one talked for the rest of the ride, although I kept getting concerned looks from everyone in the compartment. Harry and I never looked at each other or even spoke, but I knew that he was feeling the same way that I was.

Finally, the train came to a stop and we all walked out towards the castle. I kept getting looks from everyone and George was standing really close to me, probably waiting for me to collapse again.

When we got into the carriages that led to the school, I just wanted to crawl into a hole. Harry was looking awkwardly around, no doubt feeling as bad as I did.

Then the carriages finally came to a stop and we got off.

"Is it true Potter?" Draco said with a huge smile on his face. "You fainted?"

"Shove off Malfoy," Ron growled.

"Shame that I wasn't there to catch you Emily," Malfoy winked at me. "You probably don't know what it's like to be in the arms of a real man-" he said while looking at George.

George stepped forward, looking as though he was going to choke the life out of him, but was stopped when Fred held him back.

"It isn't worth it," Fred said quietly.

George continued to glare at Draco as he walked off into the castle. We didn't start moving until Hermione pushed us all along.

"Since when has that creep been interested in you?" George asked me.

"I don't know…" I mumbled.

Hermione smiled at me as she walked past me, giving me that same look that she had given me earlier that day. I didn't realize that I was walking so close to George…we were almost holding hands…

"Potter! Granger!" McGonagall's voice called over the crowd.

I looked over and saw our Transfiguration professor standing nearby. She waved at the three of us to join her. Everyone else looked hesitant, but they continued.

* * *

><p>It turned out that Professor McGonagall was just worried about what happened with the dementors and all. It was rather embarrassing to be quite honest - Madam Pomfrey even came into her office to check and see if we were okay. Once we left, we went straight towards the Great Hall to discover that we had missed the Sorting…again…<p>

As I was walking into the Great Hall, I noticed several eyes on me, but one set in particular. Professor Snape was looking at me from the front table and had a look of concern on his face. I gave him a weak smile just before I sat down and he looked away.

"What was that about?" Ron asked as we took our seats next to him.

I was about to answer him, but I was stopped when Professor Dumbledore stood up from the front table, smiling down at us all.

"Welcome!" he smiled. "I would like to inform everyone, which I am sure that you are all well aware of, that dementors will be guarding the castle this year. Also, I would like to welcome our new teacher this year, Professor Lupin, who will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Some applause broke out in the crowd, but it didn't last very long.

"Look at Snape!" Ron whispered.

I looked up and saw the Potions master glaring at Lupin. He looked furious at him, more angry than I had ever seen him before.

"I am also pleased to announce that Hagrid will be taking over the post of Care of Magical Creatures," Dumbledore smiled.

My jaw dropped. I hadn't expected Hagrid to become a teacher at all, let alone this year. He couldn't have looked any happier than he did when everyone started to applaud him. It was his dream to work with animals and he finally got to.

"Well, that's all for now," Dumbledore smiled. "Let the feast begin!"

Food suddenly appeared in front of everyone on the platters that had been set out. It was no shock at all that Ron was the first one to dig into the food. He was constantly hungry…

Once we were finished eating, the four of us ran up to the teacher's table to talk to Hagrid, who smiled through his huge beard when he saw us.

"Congratulations!" I smiled at him.

"It's all thanks to you three," he said. "Ya cleared my name las' year and Dumbledore came right ter me when the job was open. It was my dream ya know?"

We talked some more about what all he was going to be teaching us about and what all had happened since we saw each other last, but the feast finally ended, so we had to move on to the Gryffindor Tower.

"One moment, Miss Potter," a familiar voice said behind me.

I turned around to see Snape walking slowly towards me, looking as though he was checking me for injury. As always, I noticed the familiar flinch of his face when we made eye contact.

"Yes, Professor?" I said.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione kept moving on, only pausing for a moment when they saw that Snape was talking to me.

"I heard about what happened on the train…" he said. "I was wondering if…anything happened…"

"I'm…okay…" I said.

"What exactly happened?" he asked.

The Great Hall was slowly emptying and only a few teachers remained. Dumbledore was one of those that stayed behind and I noticed a smile go across his face when he looked from Snape to me and I saw a small tear roll down his eye, but it was quickly wiped away.

"The dementor was in our compartment," I explained. "I'm not really sure what all happened, but I know that it became very cold…and I heard a scream."

"A scream?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It sounded like a woman's scream…" I said slowly. "It almost sounded familiar…"

Snape nodded slowly and looked around at the room as if he just noticed that practically everyone was missing from it. He nodded in farewell and started walking out of the room.

Professor Dumbledore walked over to me and smiled.

"Hello Miss Potter," he smiled.

He started to walk along and looked back at me as if to say that I should follow. I hurried along and walked slowly beside him.

"I suppose that I should lead you up to the Tower," he smiled. "It looks like your classmates have left you behind and I don't believe that you know your password."

"No, Percy didn't tell me what it was," I said.

We walked in silence through the hallways and up some of the stairs. Then I decided that I would ask him something that was on my mind.

"Why did Professor Snape ask me what happened on the train?" I asked him. "Why didn't he ask Professor Lupin?"

Dumbledore smiled as he looked down at me, him being a lot taller than I am.

"I believe that he wanted to hear it right from the source," he said slowly.

"He doesn't care for Professor Lupin, does he?" I asked. "And it isn't only because he got the Defense Against the Dark Arts job."

"You are very observant, aren't you?" Dumbledore chuckled. "You are right, as usual. No, they aren't on the best terms. They went to school together and they didn't really get along."

There was silence for a little while and then something dawned on me.

"Professor Lupin was a friend of my father's, wasn't he?"

"It amazes me how much you can figure out on your own," he smiled, his eyes twinkling. "Yes, Professor Lupin was one of your father's close friends. How did you discover this so quickly?"

"It's just that I knew that Professor Snape didn't get along with my father," I said. "He also knew exactly who we were when he saw us on the train."

"A lot of people know who the two of you are Miss Potter," he said.

"…that is true," I said slowly. "I guess I'm just really good at guessing."

"We have that in common," Dumbledore smiled.

Then we came to a stop when we made it to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"I believe the password is 'Fortuna Major,'" Dumbledore said. "Goodnight Miss Potter."

Dumbledore smiled as he walked away from the portrait. I walked into the common room where I found Harry, Ron, and Hermione waiting for me.

"What did Snape want?" Harry asked with a look of disgust on his face.

"He was just asking about the train," I said.

"That took a while," Ron said.

"Well, Dumbledore brought me up here," I explained.

They all had an eyebrow raise, but shrugged it off. We talked for a little while, but then we were off to bed.

I was so happy to be back home.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading - I hope that you liked it! Tell me what you thought about this chapter or maybe even the entire book so far. If you have any suggestions for this book or even future books, please leave it in a comment or send me a private message. I am happy to take suggestions and will take every one of them into consideration. The next chapter should be up tomorrow! PLEASE REVIEW!<strong>


	7. Predictions of Death

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 7**

The next morning when we went down into the Great Hall, Draco Malfoy took it upon himself to mock Harry about passing out when the dementors came. He somehow managed to not mention me at all.

"Watch out Potter - the dementors are coming for you!" Draco said and pointed up to the sky.

As we walked off Malfoy wolf-whistled in my direction and I rolled my eyes. Harry stopped and went to go after him, but I grabbed his arm and pulled him along.

"Harry, just ignore him," I muttered.

Even though he was angry, Harry listened to me and kept walking.

Once we sat down, we were given out our schedules for the year. I had the same classes as Harry and Ron, much to my delight. I didn't really want to be in a class alone. However, I didn't get to see Hermione's schedule because she kept hiding it from me.

"What do you have first?" Neville asked me from across the table.

"Divination with Professor Trelawney," I read off.

"Oh good, I do too," he smiled at me.

We all walked off to Divination together. It took a long time for us to make it to the room, but when we got there it seemed to be almost impossible to actually go into the room. There wasn't a door nearby, but we finally discovered that their was a trapdoor on the ceiling above us.

"How are we supposed to get up there?" I asked.

Right at that moment, a silvery ladder fell from the door. We all stared at it for a minute, then we climbed it one by one. When I got into the classroom, I noticed that there were several circular tables in the room and the room seemed to have a weird red glow. It looked more like a tea-shop than anything else.

"Where is the teacher?" Neville whispered beside me.

As if on cue, the teacher walked out of the shadows towards us. She was very thin and had large glasses on her face that magnified her eyes. She looked a little bit like a bug…

"Welcome class!" she said in a misty kind of voice. "Welcome to Divination, I ask that you all take a seat."

Everyone looked around at each other at first, then we all took a seat. I sat next to Neville at one table while Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat at a table that was directly next to mine.

"Many talented witches and wizards are not able to see into the future," Professor Trelawney said in a hushed voice. "It is a Gift that so little have…you, boy," she turned to Neville. "How is your grandmother doing?"

Neville looked around nervously and then answered.

"She's doing well…" he said.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," she said in a warning tone.

Neville turned to me with wide eyes and looked like he was terrified. Personally, I could just tell that she was making up things, but I guess that I couldn't be so sure. It just seemed like she was trying to frighten people that believed her.

"We will be covering the basic methods of Divination this year. The first term will learn to read tea leaves. Next term will begin palmistry. Any questions?"

Everyone looked around at each other, some looking terrified, others looking excited, and their were a few - Harry, Ron, Hermione, and myself - who looked completely bored with the entire idea of this class.

"Okay, I ask that you all separate into pairs and grab some tea cups. Once you are finished drinking, I ask that you observe the bottom of the cup to read your fortunes, oh-" she turned to Neville again. "Once you have broken your first cup, would you mind taking a blue one, I do care for the pink ones."

Harry raised his eyebrow at the table next to me and I laughed. This class was going to be crazy. We all stood up slowly and got our teacups, Neville breaking the first one as predicted and several people looked amazed that Trelawney was able to predict that.

"I can't believe it," Neville said as he say back down at our table, his second cup in hand. "How could she have known that was going to happen?"

"Neville," I said. "You aren't exactly the most graceful of people, it wasn't really that hard to guess what was going to happen. Besides, you were probably freaking out about whether or not you were going to break one or not, so you got nervous and dropped it."

"That could be true…" Neville nodded.

We took a minute to drink the tea that was in our cups and then we took turns looking at each others cups. We had our books open to use as a reference, but it didn't do much good. It just looked like a blob.

"I guess that you could say it's a…" I looked at the book. "Sun? That means that your going to be very happy in life…that's good I guess."

Neville looked at my cup, angling his head in all different directions as I had done only moments before. We were kind of making things up because it didn't really look like anything to be honest.

"Hmmm…" Neville said thinking. "Maybe it's a…acorn? That means that your going to get some unexpected gold."

"Well, that's not bad," I said, then I turned to Harry. "What did you get?"

Ron was squinting into Harry's cup and looked completely and utterly confused. I couldn't really blame him.

"It looks like a…bowler hat," Ron said slowly. "Maybe you'll work for the Ministry."

"Excellent," Harry smiled.

I turned back around to Neville who was looking through the book - _Unfogging the Future_ - and back to my cup, not looking sure of what he was doing.

"Just give it up," I laughed. "This is so pointless."

"You just need to use your Inner Eye," Trelawney said in a hushed tone.

Harry and Ron started laughing behind me and she left our table alone. When she did, she took the cup from Harry's hands and looked at it herself. She started turning it around and looking at it with horror. Then she screamed and put the cup down quickly, backing up from it in a hurry and throwing herself down into a nearby armchair.

"What is it?" Lavender Brown asked when everyone went silent.

"It's…the Grim…" she said in a horrified tone.

Harry and I looked at each other, both of us raising our eyebrows. Several other people had the same reaction as us, but there were a few that looked as horrified as she was.

"What's the Grim?" Neville asked.

"It's the omen of Death!" Parvati Patil shrieked.

I rolled my eyes and walked over to Harry's table. I picked up the cup and looked at it from every angle. It looked nothing like a grim in the slightest, she was just making things up.

"There is _not_ a Grim in this cup," I said. "Harry isn't going to die."

Professor Trelawney stood up quickly and ran over to my cup. She picked it up and looked frantically at every angle of it. Then she dropped my cup onto the ground, making it shatter into many pieces.

"You have one too!" she whispered.

"That is ridiculous," Hermione said loudly. "Neither of them are going to die."

Professor Trelawney looked at Hermione with disgust. She walked over to her slowly and narrowed her eyes in her direction.

"I knew from the moment that you walked into this room that you wouldn't be able to See as anyone else in here," she whispered in a mysterious tone. "You don't possess the Inner Eye."

"Neither do you…" I muttered under my breath.

After Divination, we had Transfiguration. Everyone in the room looked horrified and was hardly even paying any attention to what Professor McGonagall was saying.

"What is wrong with you all?" she asked.

"We just got back from Divination," Lavender Brown said in a quiet voice.

"Ah, I see," she said. "No pun intended…so, which one of you is dying this year?"

Harry and I looked at each other and raised our hands.

"So, she's trying to switch things up is she," McGonagall said while rolling her eyes. "Every year she chooses one person that is going to die. I guess this year she decided to go with two, which hardly counts considering you're twins…I shall assure you that neither of you are going to die, none of the others have."

…

After class, we had lunch where I sat next to Fred and George and told them all about what had happened in Divination earlier that day.

"She said that you're going to die?" Fred asked.

"Yeah, but McGonagall said that she tells at least one person that every year," I said. "Didn't she do that in your class?"

"Dad wanted us to take Muggle Studies," George shrugged.

"And you actually listened to what he said?" I laughed.

"We didn't really care either way," George shrugged.

Then I looked to my left and saw Ron starting at Harry with his eyes the size of dinner plates and looking absolutely horrified.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Ronald is under the impression that Professor Trelawney was right about seeing the Grim and predicting Harry's death," Hermione rolled her eyes.

"You're joking?" I laughed.

"Well, we did see the Grim before," Harry said wearily.

"When?"

"Remember," Harry said. "It was just before we got onto the night bus. There was something that was watching us in the bushes and it looked _just like_ the Grim."

I thought back to that day. It really did look like a Grim that was staring at us…oh, what am I thinking? Professor Trelawney was crazy, just like Professor McGonagall said.

They changed the subject quickly to the next class that we were going to. It was Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid, which we were all hoping that he would do well with.

While we were talking, I noticed that someone was looking at me from the corner of my eye. He had his head turned to the side a bit and had a small grin every time I smiled. I felt myself start to blush and I looked down, trying to avoid his gaze.

Hermione, of course, noticed this immediately and had that same obnoxious grin on her face.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading! Sorry that it's kind of late - the internet at my house was down for a while and I wasn't able to post anything. I hope that you like the chapter and please, please, PLEASE tell me what you think. I know that this chapter was kind of short, so I apologize once more, but I guess that all of my chapters on here are. PLEASE REVIEW!<strong>


	8. What's a Hippogriff?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 8**

We walked out towards Hagrid's hut for our first ever Care of Magical Creatures class, all of us carrying our Monster Book of Monsters and trying to keep them still. No one had been able to figure out how exactly how to open up the books, but no one was going to start now.

"Why do we have to have this class with _Slytherin_," Ron groaned as we watched them walk down from the castle. "I've had enough of Malfoy…"

"_You've_ had enough?" I laughed. "Try having him hit on you every five seconds, it's rather annoying."

"It is creepy…" Ron nodded as he turned back to Hagrid's hut.

We hadn't really guessed what was going to happen during our first lesson because there really wasn't much point. You could never really guess what Hagrid was going to do next, he was quite unpredictable - especially when it came to animals.

"Why hello Emily-" Draco started.

"I'm not interested Draco," I cut him off and didn't look at him.

"Oooh, looks like we're on a first name basis," Draco said as he moved closer to me.

"Walk another inch closer and you'll wish you were never born," I said quickly.

"Playing that game, are we?" Draco said flirtatiously.

I opened my mouth for another retort, but was cut off as soon as Hagrid walked out of his hut and towards the awaiting class.

"Let's get a move on," Hagrid said as he walked towards the edge of the forest.

We all followed close behind him as we walked on. We stopped at the edge of the trees and that was where Hagrid started his lesson.

"Okay, first thing ya have ter do is open yer books ter-" he began.

"How?" Draco asked.

"Huh?" Hagrid asked dumbfounded.

"How do we open the books?" I asked.

"None of ya have figured it out?" he asked.

We all looked around at each other and I noticed that everyone had tied the books up to prevent it from biting them.

"All yer have to do is stroke it's spine," he said as if it was obvious.

I untied my book and did just as he said. As soon as I did, the book calmed down and opened up so I could read the pages inside of it. Several others followed suit and were able to read their books.

"Oh, of course," Draco said. "It should have been obvious. Why didn't I think to _pet_ the book that was trying to bite my head off?"

Several Slytherins laughed at his joke, but all of the Gryffindors just glared at him, some rolling their eyes.

"Okay then…" Hagrid said nervously.

Then there came a strange looking animals from the forest that I had never seen before. They had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings, and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with huge beaks and orange eyes. They looked magnificent, but frightening at the same time.

"They're called Hippogriffs," Hagrid explained. "They're very curious fellows, hippogriffs are. They're very offended creatures though, so ya have ter respect 'em or they won't like ya."

There was a silence as everyone watched the hippogriffs move around through the edge of the forest.

"So, who'll be first to ride one?" he asked.

I looked at Hagrid in disbelief. There was no way that any one of us was going to get on that thing. They seemed to be very fascinating creatures, but I wouldn't dare go near one of them. It was crazy! The rest of the class seemed to agree with me because not a soul spoke up.

"No one?" Hagrid said, sounding extremely upset.

"I'll do it," Harry said as he stepped forward.

Draco, who was now slowly making his way next to me, looked dumbfounded as my brother stepped slowly towards the hippogriff and the rest of the class looked about the same.

Hagrid explained to Harry the correct way to approach a hippogriff and then Harry moved towards it and bowed slightly. He kept eye contact with it and soon enough, the hippogriff bowed right back.

"Good job Harry!" Hagrid smiled. "Now go over there and pat his beak."

Everyone started to cheer, aside from some Slytherins, as Harry pet the hippogriff. Suddenly, Hagrid did something that I wasn't expecting and by the look on Harry's face, he wasn't expecting it either. He picked Harry up and set him on top on the creature's back.

"Well, I guess ya ought to ride 'im," he said happily. "Hold on tight!"

Then the hippogriff took off and Harry looked absolutely terrified. Within minutes, the hippogriff was flying high into the air to the point that they just looked like a little speck in the distance.

"Maybe if we're lucky, it'll never come back," Draco laughed.

"You're hilarious," I said and rolled my eyes.

"So," Draco said and moved too close to me. "While your brother is out of my way, I thought that now would be the best time."

He put his arm around me and pulled me closer towards him. It was very uncomfortable.

"We should date," he said as he held me closer. "I know you secretly have a thing for me."

"Wow, you're just full of jokes today," I muttered.

I started to shove him away from me, but he wouldn't move.

"Let her go, Malfoy," Ron, who just noticed what was going on, snarled.

Ron stepped forward threateningly and Draco backed right off and started to laugh nervously. He was about to open up his mouth again, but was stopped when Harry returned to the ground.

"Move out of my way," Draco snarled.

Draco stomped right over to the creature and pushed Harry out of the way. Hagrid's eyes became very big and Harry all but ran out of the way when he saw the hippogriff becoming angry.

"Can't be that hard if Potter can do it," he snarled. "You're an ugly beast, you know that-"

Right as he walked closer to the hippogriff, it stood up on its hind legs and kicked him over without much challenge. He fell over on the ground immediately and let out a grunt of pain.

"BUCKBEAK - NO!" Hagrid roared and stepped in between Malfoy and the hippogriff.

The creature backed off and Hagrid immediately turned to Malfoy, who was now yelling.

"I'm dying - the thing has killed me," he said.

"Yer not dyin'!" Hagrid said.

He picked him up from the ground and walked to the castle, which we all assumed was to the hospital wing. We all knew that he hadn't really been injured that badly, but being as it was him, he was going to make it out into some huge scene.

The whole class followed him back into the castle, all whispering amongst themselves. I wasn't really paying that much attention because I knew that, at this point, they were probably going to be complaining that Hagrid wasn't fit to be a teacher.

* * *

><p>We were all sitting in the Great Hall that night for dinner, talking about what all had happened that day. Fred and George were complaining about the day being incredibly boring.<p>

"What happened to Malfoy?" Fred asked as he looked over at the Slytherin table.

Surrounding him were several others that were his so called friends and he was talking animatedly about what had happened earlier that day judging by the way he was acting.

"That hippogriff of Hagrid's attacked him today during class," I laughed. "He's so pathetic, the thing hardly touched him."

"What did he do?" George asked.

"He offended it," I said.

"Serves him right to get hit," Ron joined in. "I can't believe how interested he has gotten in you this year."

"What are you talking about?" George said quickly.

"He grabbed Emily and wouldn't let go of her," Ron said. "He's mad."

George's entire attitude changed after that. He didn't really speak much and kept glaring angrily over at the Slytherin table. Luckily, dinner had just ended and he didn't have to stay there any longer.

As soon as the food disappeared, we all piled into the hallways. George stuck close beside me on my right while Harry and the others were on my left.

Suddenly I saw Draco coming through the crowd towards me. He went to say something, but was stopped when George shoved him off to the side and grabbed me by the arm and walked me forward.

"What's your problem, Weasley?" Malfoy asked.

"Oh, you think I have a problem now Malfoy?" George said. "Lay another hand on her, I dare you. You'll see who has a problem then."

George towered over Malfoy and he looked absolutely terrifying, something that Malfoy seemed to ignore. It was almost strange seeing George like this, he was normally always the prankster.

"She's not yours, you know?" Malfoy said, his eyes narrowing.

"She's more mine than yours," George said.

"It's funny how you think that she'll ever even look at you that way," Draco said. "You're just her friend's older brother. You're absolutely nothing to her and you never will be."

There was a chilling silence and I looked from Draco to George, waiting for one of them to start choking the other. It looked like they were one second away from murdering the other.

"What's going on here?" a familiar voice came up from behind me.

I turned around and saw Professor Snape walking in through the crowd. It was at that moment that I noticed just how many people were watching. It looked like the entire school was surrounding the two of them.

"Nothing at all, Professor," Draco said, still staring evilly at George.

"Is that so?" Snape asked. "What's going on Mr. Weasley?"

"Oh, just a misunderstanding on Malfoy's part, that's all," George said coolly.

"We'll see about that," Draco smiled angrily.

They continued staring each other down until Snape pushed them away from each other in separate directions, looking confused and annoyed at the same time.

* * *

><p>We were all sitting in the common room talking about what we thought was going to happen to Hagrid. As we all knew, Malfoy's father played a large role in what happened at Hogwarts and we figured that he was going to be in a lot of trouble.<p>

"We should probably go down to see him," Ron said. "Ask him what all has happened."

"What about the dementors?" Hermione asked. "They are all over the place."

"We're still allowed to walk the grounds," Harry said. "I don't think that Sirius Black is going to make it that far."

We walked out of the tower and through the hallways towards Hagrid's hut. However, I was stopped just as we were about to walk out by someone that I wasn't expecting to see at this hour.

"Miss Potter, may I have a word?" Snape asked.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all stopped, looking completely stunned. Snape rarely asked anyone to stop and talk before and it still was odd to them that we even spoke to each other.

"Sure," I said slowly. "You all can go on."

They nodded slowly and kept walking towards Hagrid's home. I looked back to my potions master as soon as they were out of sight and waiting for him to start speaking.

"Walk with me," he said.

We began to walk through the corridors, not really saying anything for a good while.

"Where is your brother off to?" he asked.

"He wanted to speak with Hagrid…about what happened earlier with Malfoy."

He nodded slowly and continued walking for a little while before he spoke up again.

"I'm to assume that you know what was happening in the hallways today after dinner."

"Yes…" I nodded as we moved up the steps.

"Well…" he said expectantly.

"Apparently the two of them…fancy me…and they are having some kind of competition…"

I felt myself blushing a little bit at the thought of two guys fighting over me. It was kind of awkward talking about it to one of my teachers.

"I see…" he said. "Since when has Mr. Malfoy taken an interest in you?"

"You tell me," I muttered.

He nodded slowly and we continued on through the hallway. I looked at some of the paintings that were moving around in the portraits, many of them preparing to sleep for the night.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading! By the way, I am fully aware that I ended this chapter in a weird spot...whoops! I would also like to apologize that Draco is coming off as such an asshole in this chapter, don't worry I won't have him acting like this throughout the rest of the story. I kind of feel a little bad for doing that because I actually do like Draco's character, I hope that you all aren't too mad about that.<strong>

**ATTENTION: What do you think that Emily's boggart should be? Try and make it creative, I want it to be different from Harry's...or should it be the same? You tell me!**

**I would also like to make an announcement that might anger some people, tell me what you think and how mad you would be if I just kept Sirius as both Harry and Emily's godfather? I do have some things planned ahead for some things I could do if I went this route. I know that a lot of you wanted it differently, but it wouldn't really make sense for Lily and James to make either Snape or Lupin Emily's godfather. First of all, Snape was a death eater during the time that they were born and there is no way that James would allow that. Secondly, Lupin wouldn't really be that great of an idea considering he is a werewolf. He isn't exactly a very stable person - sorry. So, tell me what you think and I'm sorry if this isn't what you wanted. ****L**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	9. What Do You Fear?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 9**

"So, what happened?" I asked.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione had just returned from Hagrid's house. They were back in the common room sooner than I thought they would be, so I was a little confused as to what happened.

"Hagrid is worried about what Malfoy's father is going to do," Hermione said. "He is one of the governors of the school, so he could lose his job."

"That isn't fair," I said. "Malfoy is just putting on an act!"

"Yeah, but you can't prove that," Harry said.

We all sighed. It was true, you couldn't really prove that he was acting. There was no way that Hagrid could get fired over it though. It wasn't _Hagrid's_ fault that Buckbeak attacked a student.

The following day we had Potions first thing in the morning. As always, Harry and Ron were complaining the whole way there about how awful class was going to be. I never really minded Potions class. It was always an easy subject for me, one that I took an interest in and did well.

The only thing that I wasn't looking forward to was sharing the classroom with Slytherin. We have had Potions with them all three years that I've gone to Hogwarts and this year wasn't going to be any different than the others.

"We will be creating a Shrinking Solutions today," Snape announced as he walked into the classroom. "The instructions are on the board. You may begin."

I went over to the cabinet and picked out all of the ingredients that were needed. It was almost sad to say that I knew the exact ingredients to pick out without even looking at the board. During the summer, when I had nothing better to do at the Dursleys, I would normally pick up my potions book and read through the instructions for each to make sure that I was prepared when we got to class. Each year it had benefited me because I had never messed up a single Potion.

I sat down in my usual seat next to Neville, whom I always had to help while we made our Potion. We had it down to a practical science now on how to keep Snape from noticing that I was helping him. Basically, Neville would just watch how I made the Potion and he would just copy what I was doing. I had to go slowly just to make sure he was able to see each step.

"Make sure the roots are cut up evenly," I whispered to him.

"Does it really make a difference?" he whispered back.

I nodded to him and he went on cutting up each root precisely and managed to keep all of them even enough that it wouldn't effect the potion.

"Professor, I can't cut up the roots because of my arm," Draco said.

"Weasley, cut up his roots for him," Snape said without even looking up from his desk.

Ron looked like he would rather do anything else but cut up the roots for Malfoy's potion. When he went to cut them, he chopped them up into completely uneven pieces and was throwing them all around the place in the process.

"Professor, Weasley is mutilating my roots," Malfoy complained.

"Use his roots, he can use yours," Snape said sounding completely bored with the whole situation.

Ron's jaw dropped and his face went red. He had spent practically the entire class period cutting his roots up evenly and now he couldn't even use them. After that, Snape forced Harry to skin Malfoy's shrivelfig, much to Harry's dislike.

I heard Malfoy talking to Harry, but I couldn't quite make out what they were saying to each other. I wasn't really paying attention to what Neville was doing and I immediately regretted looking away.

"Neville, why is your potion orange?" I whispered.

"I-I don't know, I was just-" he stuttered and began to frantically look through the instructions on the board and in his book.

"Mr. Longbottom," Snape said as he walked over to our table. "Is there a reason that your potion is orange instead of green? Are you honestly that incapable of creating a simple potion without the help of Miss Potter?"

Neville's face went completely red as Snape walked away shaking his head.

"Help me," he begged.

I looked over at Snape who was facing in the opposite direction and quickly seized the opportunity. I grabbed a bunch of ingredients and began to add some to the potion in an attempt to fix it. I had read about this sort of thing in a book that Hermione had given me a while back on how to fix potions. Luckily, I was able to return the potion to it's intended color just before Snape turned around. His eyes narrowed when he saw me backing away from Neville's potion.

"What are you doing Miss Potter?" Snape asked slowly as he waked over towards my table.

"I'm not sure what you mean Professor," I said.

"You wouldn't be helping Mr. Longbottom again, would you?" he said eyeing me curiously.

"I couldn't imagine what would give you that idea," I said.

He narrowed his eyes further and walked over to look at Neville's potion. He stirred it around a little bit and then looked up from Neville to me.

"Do you happen to have your toad with you Mr. Longbottom?" he asked with an evil grin.

"Y-yes," Neville stuttered.

Snape held out his hand and Neville took Trevor out of his pocket and handed him to Snape.

"Gather around class," Snape said. "Everyone should be finished making their potions by now and I believe that it is time that we test one out. If this potion was made correctly, this toad should turn into a tadpole. If not, then it will likely be poisoned."

Neville began to shake and his eyes grew wide as he stared hopelessly at his toad. I wasn't really sure if I had been able to correct the potion entirely because Snape had turned around too quickly, so I wasn't really sure what was going to happen.

Snape took out a spoon and dipped it into the potion. He poured the liquid down Trevor's throat and everyone stared intently at the toad, waiting to see what would happen.

Suddenly there was a pop and the toad turned into a tadpole. All of the Gryffindors cheered and Neville let out a sigh of relief. Snape pulled out another potion and dropped some of it on the toad to return it to its original state.

Snape looked up from the toad and glared over at me.

"Five points from Gryffindor," he said. "How many times do I have to tell you Miss Potter to not help him during class?"

"Sorry, Professor," I said.

There was a moment when Snape looked as though he regretted lecturing me or something. It was probably my imagination.

"I can't believe that he took points away from you," Ron said as we walked out of the classroom. "He _never_ takes points from you - you're the best in our class! Well, Hermione's good too-Hermione?"

I looked around and noticed that Hermione was nowhere near us.

"Where'd she go?" I asked.

"She was just with us…wasn't she?" Harry asked.

"There she is," I said pointing ahead of us.

Hermione was in the middle of the hallway picking up books that had fallen out of her torn backpack. It was surprising how many books that she had considering the fact that we didn't have that many classes in one day. Ron picked up the remaining two books that she had and handed them over to her.

"Thanks," she smiled.

"How did you do that?" Ron asked.

"Do what?" she asked looking confused.

"You were walking behind us just a moment ago-" Harry started.

"Oh, I'd forgotten something…" she mumbled.

She suddenly went silent and then walked off towards the Great Hall for lunch.

"Is it just me, or does it seem like she's not telling us something?" Ron asked.

* * *

><p>After lunch, we had Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Lupin. I had already heard from several people that this class was fantastic with him as a teacher.<p>

"The only thing you'll need today is your wands, you can put away everything else," Lupin announced as he walked into the classroom.

"This is my favorite class already," Ron said.

Lupin stood awkwardly in front of the class, just looking around at all of the students. Then he started moving into another room.

"Follow me," he said.

The whole class followed closely behind Lupin through the hallways, down some stairs, and right towards the staffroom. The whole time there, I was trying to figure out what we could possibly be learning about that was inside of the staffroom.

As we walked in there, I noticed that the room wasn't empty. In an armchair say Professor Snape, looking oddly sad about something. As soon as he saw us, weirdly enough he looked directly at me to start with, he looked as though his mood changed completely.

"Leave the door open," Professor Snape said. "I don't wish to watch this…"

He walked out of the room quickly and quietly, his usual black robes billowing out as he walked. It kind of resembled a bat a little bit…

"Moving on," Lupin said. "If you haven't noticed already, there is something inside of this wardrobe."

As if on cue, the wardrobe that sat ahead of me began to shake. Several people stepped back away from the wardrobe.

"No need to worry," he smiled. "There is only a boggart inside of there. Does anyone know what that is?"

Hermione, as usual, was the only one that raised her hand.

"It's a shape-shifter," she said. "It changes shape according to the person's greatest fear."

"Correct!" Lupin said. "Now, does anyone notice a problem here - Emily?"

I was completely caught off guard and Hermione was staring at me expectantly as she raised her hand high in the air.

"Well…" I said. "There are a lot of us in here, so it probably won't know what to turn into."

"Exactly," Lupin smiled at me. "Now, the key to getting rid of a boggart is laughter - you must turn it into something that is funny. In order to do this, you must think of something to turn the boggart into that would make you laugh - then use the spell 'Riddikulus'!"

The wardrobe shook again and Lupin looked around at everyone in the class.

"Neville," Lupin said. "I would like you to go first."

Neville, who was standing next to me, looked completely and utterly mortified and went red in the face. He looked over at me, hoping that I would help him get out of this, but I just shrugged. He sighed and then walked towards Lupin and the wardrobe, probably regretting standing in the front with me.

"Excellent," Lupin said. "Now, what is it that you fear the most?"

He mumbled something that I couldn't quite hear and looked around nervously.

"What was that?"

"Professor Snape," he said louder.

Several people laughed at this, but I could almost understand why. Snape was rather cruel to Neville sometimes for some reason - one that I couldn't really figure out.

"Okay, now this is what I want you to do…" Lupin said.

He started whispering something to him so that no one else could hear. I tried to listen in on what he was saying, but I couldn't hear anything. Neville laughed, so I assumed that it was a good idea.

"Okay, ready?" Lupin said as he stepped out of the way of the wardrobe.

Neville nodded nervously and prepared himself for what was going to come out of there. Lupin waved his wand and everyone tried to get a better look at it. Out of the wardrobe walked Professor Snape, looking the same as the original. Neville looked terrified.

"R-riddikulus!" he shouted and pointed his wand at the boggart.

Suddenly, the image of Snape was changed completely. He was now wearing a long, green dress and a hat that had a vulture sitting on top of it, and in his hand was a huge red handbag. Everyone started laughing as this humiliated Snape cowered away.

"Okay, next person!" Lupin said. "I suggest that you all think of what you're going to do when the boggart faces you!"

As Pavarti stepped forward to face the boggart - a mummy - I began to think of what mine was going to be. I knew that the most terrifying thing to me was the sight of Voldemort, but there was no way that I was going to have him come into the room.

"I'll just take off its legs…" I heard Ron mumble to himself.

I smiled over at him and he gave me a smile back. It was common knowledge that Ron's greatest fear was spiders.

"What is yours going to be?" I whispered to Harry.

"I was thinking about a dementor," Harry whispered back. "What are you going to do?"

"That's a good one, I won't take that one from you…" I said, thinking. "I can't think of one…"

"Maybe you could have Snape tell you that you brewed a potion incorrectly," Ron said.

"Very funny," I muttered as he chuckled.

Then the spider turned to Ron and it turned into a gigantic spider, sort of resembling Aragog from the year before. Several people screamed, but Ron said the spell and it's legs flew off and it started rolling around.

Just as it turned to me, I saw a glimpse of my own brother's face on the boggart. He was lying on the ground, bloody and mangled. I stepped back a few feet, terrified at the sight in front of me. Lupin's eyes widened in horror and he jumped in front of me. Instantly, the boggart turned into a small white orb that was floating in the air. He waved his wand and it turned into a balloon and flew away and popped into the air.

"Excellent job everyone," Lupin said, his face oddly pale. "Homework will be to summarize what the boggart is, you can look through the book for help if you need it."

The bell rang for that class to be over and everyone began to leave the room. I glanced over at Harry who had a look of terror.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled to him.

"No, it's fine," Harry said in a low voice.

"Why didn't Lupin let you go?" I asked.

"I'm not sure…" he said. "He probably thought that mine would be worse than yours or something."

Ron and Hermione caught up with us in a minute, both talking about the boggart. Hermione was upset that she didn't get the chance to see hers.

"Did you see that one for Lupin?" Ron asked us. "What was that about?"

"I couldn't really tell what it was," Hermione said.

"It almost looked like a crystal ball…" Harry said.

"It looked more like a moon to me," I said. "Maybe he's afraid of the night..."

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading! Just so you all know, I'll probably go back to posting every other day after this chapter. With Christmas being tomorrow and my dad's wedding coming up, I'm not going to have much time on my hands. I hope that you all won't be too angry with me and I hope that you'll still read the story.<strong>

**Tell me what you think! PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Happy holidays!**


	10. Snape Gives Points to Gryffindor

**Disclaimer: I am not J. K. Rowling, therefore, I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 10**

After our lesson about the boggart in Defense Against the Dark Arts, many people became very fond of the class and it quickly became a favorite of many people. Unfortunately, Potions was slowly becoming worse because Snape was in a particularly bad mood ever since he heard about Neville's boggart. He was basically the only person that didn't find it funny at all. He was treating Neville worse than he ever had before.

We had potions the next day and we were making a particularly difficult potion. I had already forewarned Neville that I wouldn't be helping him because I knew that Snape would be paying close attention because of what had happened the day before.

The consequences of this were terrible. Neville had managed to mess up more than one step by the looks of his potion half-way through class.

BOOM!

The potion that was in Neville's cauldron exploded and it flew all over the place. I looked down at my arm and saw that a lot of it had hit me. Some of it even managed to get on my face.

"Maybe if you actually could read, then maybe you wouldn't be such a failure at everything!" Snape shouted at Neville.

Neville was apologizing and frantically trying to clean up the mess that he created, luckily it didn't get on anyone except for me. Suddenly, my arm and face began to turn a deep red and started burning.

Snape's eyes grew wide and his face went pale when he finally noticed what had happened to me.

"Come with me," Snape said hurriedly. "Quickly!"

I started walking fast and followed him into a separate room where his office was. I now felt my face and arm beginning to swell up and it burned even more.

Snape looked through the cabinets in his office frantically and handed over a potion that I would assume was the antidote.

"Take this," Snape said sounding completely panicked.

I quickly took the potion and I started to feel the swelling stop within the next few seconds. The burning also stopped burning as badly, but I could still feel it.

Snape turned around and picked up another potion from the cabinets and handed it over to me, I took it and drank it and the swelling started to go down.

Snape sat down in the armchair behind his desk and started to rub his temples. He looked angry, but I couldn't help but see the relief that was etched onto his face.

There was silence for a moment, but I decided to break it.

"This is exactly why I always help him in class…" I said quietly as I set down the vial that I was holding.

He glanced at me sideways, not changing his expressionless face.

"Your helping him is making him incapable of doing anything by himself, why can't you see that?"

"It's not a good subject for him," I said. "You can't tell me that you can't understand that. Everyone has a subject that they don't do good in-"

"This isn't the only class!" Snape said. "I tried to be nice to him, I tried to do what you asked of me, but he's driving me insane!"

"You call that being nice to him?" I laughed. "You call him a bumbling idiot every time he's in this room!"

"I'm just pointing out the truth," Snape muttered.

"The truth?" I said. "What are you? A child?"

His eyes narrowed in my direction and I crossed my arms.

"People make mistakes," I said. "Not everyone is great at everything, you should know this by now. You treat Neville terribly just because he doesn't do well in the class. Have you ever considered that he might be doing so badly because you treat him terribly? Maybe if you treated him like a decent human being, then maybe he could surprise you by actually putting an effort towards this class."

Snape raised an eyebrow at me and looked away.

"Thank you for giving me the antidote," I said.

I walked out of the office and into the classroom where I saw several people talking nervously, probably about what was going to happen next.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, he gave me the antidote," I said.

I walked over and sat down in the chair that had been sitting in earlier. Hermione had already helped Neville clean up the mess that was made, so I didn't have anything to worry about.

After a few minutes, Snape finally stepped out of his office and towards the table I was sitting at. He glanced at me for a minute, but I turned myself away from him, giving him the silent treatment.

"I apologize for the way I treated you Mr. Longbottom, it was extremely unprofessional," Snape said through gritted teeth.

Neville looked completely mortified and waited silently as if he expected some kind of death threat to come afterwards. Everyone in the classroom was silent and I even saw a few jaws drop.

Snape walked slowly over to my cauldron and continued to grade. He observed the potion closely and after a few minutes of looking through it, he nodded and began to walk off.

"Five points to Gryffindor," he said slowly and sounded as though he was in pain as he said it and the words sounded almost unnatural coming from him.

"W-what?" I said, stunned.

"Do you wish to have those points removed, Miss Potter?" he raised an eyebrow.

I was at a loss for words.

"T-thank you Professor," I said.

A small smile went on his face as he continued to look through the other potions, but it faded before anyone else could see him.

* * *

><p>"I still can't get over Snape giving points to Gryffindor," Ron said. "That has never happened before!"<p>

"Ron, this is only the beginning of our third year," I said. "We haven't been here all that long."

We were sitting in the common room later that night and everyone was still freaking out about potions.

"Snape doesn't give points to Gryffindor, Emily," George said. "He hates Gryffindor - always has, always will."

"Emily is the only Gryffindor that Snape likes," Ron said.

"That is NOT true," I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, it really is," Seamus said as he sat down in a nearby chair. "You're the only one that he hasn't yelled at."

"He yells at me for helping Neville!" I pointed at.

"That's only because he hates me," Neville laughed.

"He doesn't hate-"

"Yes he does," Harry, Ron, Neville, and Seamus all said at the same time.

* * *

><p>It was now the beginning of October, which meant that Quidditch was going to be starting up. The night of the first practice came around sooner than I expected. Apparently Oliver wanted to prepare a lot this year.<p>

It turned out that they began to practice more than usual and I hardly even got a chance to see anyone that was on the team.

"He's mad," Fred told me just before their practice. "Quidditch is his entire life."

"The first game is against Slytherin," George mentioned. "Where is my broom?"

I pointed over to the corner of the common room where he had set his broom only an hour ago.

"Thanks," he smiled as he ran over to pick up his broom.

Fred grabbed his broom and they went to go out of the common room. He waved to me as he ran out of the door.

"Have fun!" I called out to them.

"You too, my lovely," George smiled as he ran out of the common room.

I saw a final flash of red hair and they were gone. I was kind of upset that we hadn't really had a chance to talk as much this year. The year before we had played several pranks on people just for the fun of it. With all the talk of Sirius Black, dementors, and Draco being a creeper, we hadn't really gotten around to it.

I really liked being around the two of them. Their ridiculousness took my mind away from all of the troubles that I had in my life and let me have fun. Especially George...there was just something different about him that-

"What are you doing?" Hermione said.

I jumped at the sound of her voice and turned to see her standing in front of me with her books in hand and an eyebrow raised.

"Just...thinking," I said.

She nodded slowly and fell into a chair. She opened up one of the many books that she had in her hands and started reading and jotting down a few notes.

"You said that you couldn't go to Hogsmeade?" Hermione asked after a couple of seconds.

"No," I sighed. "The Durselys wouldn't sign the form and no one else can..."

"It's probably for the best," she said. "You know, with Sirius Black after both of you."

"We're fine Hermione," I rolled my eyes. "I don't think a trip to Hogsmeade would kill us."

We sat around doing homework until everyone came back. Ron had gone to watch the practice despite the pouring rain and each one of the teammates were soaked.

"You all look like you went swimming," I laughed.

"Do we now?" George asked.

He gave me a single look and I instantly knew what he was going to do.

"You better not," I warned him as I started to stand up slowly and back away.

He ran at me quickly and I ran away from him.

"Get her, George!" Fred cheered.

"You better run Emily!" Harry laughed as he shook some of the water out of his hair.

Then I found myself cornered and I turned to face him. I laughed and backed away from him as he blocked me in.

"I'm going to kill you Weasley," I laughed.

"Don't be like that," he smiled. "I just wanted a big hug."

He threw his arms around me and I felt the cold water hit my skin instantly. He picked me up off the ground and spun me around.

"George - you're freezing!" I laughed. "Get off of me!"

"If you insist," George laughed as he backed away.

I looked down and I saw that my pajamas were completely drenched. I guess that it was lucky chance that I wasn't wearing light colors...

I swatted him in the arm and laughed as I sat back down on the couch.

"I'm going to get you for that," I warned.

"I can't wait,"'George laughed.

Everyone else was already talking amongst themselves. Ron was talking about how much he was looking forward to the Gryffindor and Slytherin game that was coming up. Apparently, our team was really good this year.

"I can't wait to see the look on Malfoy's face when-HEY!" Ron yelled.

I looked over and I saw Hermione's cat lunging towards Ron. Hermione started to panic, but suddenly Scabbers ran out of Ron's pocket and across the room. Crookshanks was chasing closely after it.

"GET THAT CAT!" Ron yelled as he chased after them.

Everyone jumped for the cat, but it still chased after Scabbers. Right when it went to pounce on the rat, Hermione managed to grab the cat and pull him away.

"You need to do something about that bloody cat," Ron yelled. "He's gonna kill Scabbers!"

"Ron, he's a cat!" Hermione yelled back. "It's in his nature to chase after rats!"

"There's just something weird about that cat," Ron said eying it carefully. "And I don't want it near Scabbers! Just look at him - he's skin and bones!"

"Didn't he say that he hated the rat anyway?" I asked Fred and George.

"What's there to like about it?" Fred asked. "Ron's just being a prick."

"Ron is always a prick," George said.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank for reading! I hope that you liked it and please tell me what you think. I really am sorry that I can't write as often as I usually do, I hope that you all can understand.<strong>

**By the way, I am so confused on what I am doing with the whole godfather situation. A lot of people mentioned that they liked the idea of Lupin being the godfather, which I can understand, and a few people that really want Snape to be the godfather. Just so you all know, I have a lot of things that I would love to do with future chapters, but these things could only happen if Sirius is Emily's godfather. Actually, it mostly had to do with the fifth book. So, tell me what you think and I want a detailed description on why you think that person should be the person I choose. I ask that you please don't be angry with my final decision - I do plan on having Emily maintain a close relationship with all three of the people mentioned.**

**Thanks! PLEASE REVIEW!**


	11. Walks With the Potions Master

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 11**

"Why don't you just ask Professor McGonagall?" Neville asked.

"She's not going to sign it," I told him. "Harry already asked."

We were at the Halloween feast that afternoon and everyone was talking about the trip to Hogsmeade that was happening right afterwards. During class earlier that day, Harry had practically begged McGonagall to sign our forms, but she refused. Only a parent or guardian could do it.

"We could sneak you in," Fred suggested. "It could be a bit tricky though..."

"No, I'm fine," I said.

"We'll bring you back stuff, okay?" George smiled.

"You don't have to," I said.

Afterwards, everyone went to the trip and Harry and I were practically the only people left in the building aside from the teachers and a few other students.

"I'm going to go outside for a little while," I told Harry.

"I'm going up to the common room for a minute," he said.

We parted ways and I walked out into a courtyard that was just outside of the school. I watched from a distance as the rest of the students walked along a trail that went to Hogsmeade.

I sat down on a nearby bench and noticed something instantly. Not that far away from me was a black dog. It looked a little bit like the one that I saw near the Knight Bus a while back, but there was no way that it was the same one.

I guess that it should have scared me because of its strong resemblance to the Grim, but it didn't. The dog looked almost helpless and no doubt homeless.

I stood up and walked over to it slowly, noting how it was staring directly at me. As I got closer, it started to take a few steps back and stood frozen. It didn't look like it was going to attack so I took a few steps forward.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my wand and pointed it towards the ground at a rock. I did a spell that transfigured it into a small bowl.

"Aguamenti," I said.

Water appeared in the bowl and the dog looked at it hungrily. It looked at me momentarily and walked slowly and hesitantly over towards the bowl and began to drink the water.

I walked over towards a nearby tree and saw some apples that were growing on it. I pulled a few off the tree and did a spell to chop them all up and the. I set them into the now empty bowl. The dog leaned its head to the side and then ate the apples quickly and began to wag its tail.

I started to pet the dog and it seemed to be a lot happier than it had been when I'd fist seen him. Suddenly I heard footsteps coming from inside of the castle, which was only feet away from me, and the dog looked up and back to me. It turned around and ran in the opposite direction, hiding from whoever was coming.

I turned around and looked through the door at the person standing there. It was Snape.

"What are you doing?" he asked and looked around the courtyard as he walked out into it.

"I could ask you the same question," I said.

He raised an eyebrow and then kept walking on to the opposite end of the corridor towards that door.

"Where are you going?" I asked him.

"Is that really your business?" he muttered as he continued to walk.

I looked around for the dog that I'd seen earlier, but it was nowhere to be seen. I turned back around and saw that Snape was nearly at the door and I ran up to follow him.

"What are you doing, Emily?" Snape muttered.

"Hey, you said my first name," I smiled.

Snape raised an eyebrow as he turned the corridor. I noticed that he was carrying a smoking goblet of in his hands.

"What is that?" I asked him.

"Must you ask so many questions?" he asked.

I smiled and looked forward without saying anything. I walked alongside him for a while and we didn't speak. Then, as we turned another corner, he looked down at me again.

"Is there a reason that you're following me?"

"No, not really," I said. "Am I bothering you?"

"Not at the moment," he said. "Why aren't you at Hogsmeade?"

"The Dursleys wouldn't sign the form because Harry and I blew up Uncle Vernon's sister."

"You can't really blame them..."

"You didn't hear what they were saying."

"True."

We walked up some steps without saying anything for a little while longer.

"It's for Professor Lupin, in case you were wondering," he said.

"You aren't going to tell me what it is, are you?" I asked.

"You're a smart girl," he smiled.

"Was that a compliment?" I smiled with shock.

He rolled his eyes just as we made it to Lupin's office and he knocked on the door.

"Come in," Lupin called.

Snape opened up the door and I saw Harry sitting in a nearby chair. I smiled at him and he looked from Snape to me curiously.

"Thank you, Severus," Lupin said as he was handed the goblet that Snape was holding.

"There's a cauldron full back in my office if you need more," Snape said.

"Thank you, I'll go down to get some more tomorrow," Lupin smiled kindly. "Are you all right, Emily? I never got a chance to ask you after our boggart lesson."

"Yes, I'm fine," I said. "It wasn't real anyway."

Snape looked at me curiously and then back to Lupin. He nodded to Lupin and then began to walk out of the door. He stopped for a moment to see if I was following him.

"See you both later," I smiled back at them as I walked off.

I caught up to Snape who slowed down his pace a bit so I could catch up. As we walked down the steps, he spoke up.

"What was your boggart?"

"Must you ask so many questions?" I asked.

He raised an eyebrow and rolled his eyes. He looked back at me, expecting an answer.

"It was Harry," I said, not looking at him. "And he was dead."

"I'm sorry you had to see that," he said quietly.

* * *

><p>"Here you go," Fred said as he dumped some things into my lap.<p>

George walked over and did the same thing and they both smiled at me, proud that they kept their promise.

"Thanks!" I smiled as they sat down on either side of me on the couch. "How was the trip?"

"It was awesome, you should see Zonko's Joke Shop!" Fred said. "We're going to have a lot to compete with when we open a shop of our own..."

He stared off into space, probably dreaming of the future.

"We're going to have to sneak you in next time we go," George said. "You're short, I'm sure the wouldn't notice you."

"Thanks a lot," I laughed.

"Anytime baby," he smiled as he sat back into the couch.

Harry walked into the common room with Hermione and Ron a few minutes later. At that point, Fred and George had just finished up telling me all about Zonko's Joke Shop and how amazing it was.

"There you are," Harry said. "I thought you might've been with Snape still."

"What were you doing with Snape?" Fred asked.

"Confessing my love to him," I said sarcastically. "We were just talking, can't I just talk to one of my teachers without being questioned?"

"With any other teacher it's reasonable," Ron said. "We're talking about Snape. It's weird that you talk to him so much."

Everyone collapsed into the chairs that were around the fireplace and kept going at it.

"What do you talk to him for?" Harry asked.

"Why were you talking to Lupin?" I asked.

"Lupin is normal," Harry defended himself.

"It really isn't that big of a deal," Hermione said. "What do you all care if she talks to Snape?"

"Thank you Hermione," I said.

* * *

><p>At dinner that night, Ron and Hermione told Harry and me all about the shops that they went to at Hogsmeade and how great that it was.<p>

"But, it wasn't that good," Hermione said quickly. "You weren't missing that much."

"Oh, yeah - no it wasn't that great," Ron said quickly.

After dinner was over, we all went back up to the tower as usual. This time though, there seemed to be a hold up.

"What's going on?" I asked Dean.

"I can't tell," Dean said. "Maybe someone forgot the password."

"Probably Neville again," Ron muttered.

"Hey, I'm right here," Neville said.

"Move out of the way," Percy said. "Move aside - I'm Head Boy!"

Percy pushed his way through the crowd towards the front to see what was going on. I tried to see through the parting crowd to see what the hold up was.

"Oh my gosh..." I said.

"What is it?" Fred asked.

"It's the Fat Lady," I said. "She's gone..."

"Someone get Professor Dumbledore!" Percy shouted.

One of the first years in the back ran down the stairs to get him. Everyone who hadn't seen what was happening was trying to get a better look and everyone else was trying to figure out what happened.

"What's happening?" Ginny asked. "I just saw that one first year running the other way."

"The Fat Lady is missing," Harry told her. "There are scratch marks all over the portrait."

A couple minutes later the little boy came back up the stairs with Dumbledore, McGongall, Lupin, and Snape following him.

"Move aside, please," Dumbledore said.

Everyone moved along as the teachers made their way towards the portrait. Snape, who was the last teacher to make it to the front, was looking around at all the students. He looked calm in the face, but his eyes were frantically searching the crowd until they rested on me. He seemed to almost relax after that.

"No use looking for her there," some said above us all. "You won't find he there, she's long gone."

I looked up and saw Peeves floating over us and spinning around looking happier than ever.

"What do you mean Peeves?" Dumbledore asked.

"The poor girl ran off crying - she's terrified, I can't blame her either."

"Afraid of what?" McGonagall asked.

"Well, he was angry that she wouldn't let him, you see?"

"Who?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

"Sirius Black."

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading - tell me what you think! PLEASE REVIEW!<strong>


	12. The Contents of Page 394

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 12**

After the mention of Sirius Black being inside of the castle, the Gryffindors were sent down to the Great Hall where we were to wait for further instruction.

"How could he have gotten into the castle?" Neville asked me as we walked into the Great Hall. "The castle is supposed to be the safest place in the wizarding world."

"Yeah, tell that to Voldemort," I said, causing him to flinch. "He's been here twice in the past two years."

"There are dementors here this year," he said. "I thought the whole point of them was to keep people like him out."

I shrugged as the Gryffindors all congregated in Great Hall. There was chatter going on all around us and I could only imagine the topic of all o the conversations. After a few minutes, the other houses joined us in the Hall.

"What are they doing here?" Neville asked.

"They probably wanted to tell the whole school," Harry said as he watched them all come into the room.

Once everyone was in the room, Dumbledore made an announcement.

"The teachers and I will be searching the castles tonight," he said. "For your own safety, you will all be sleeping here tonight and the Head Boy and Girl will be left in charge - any disturbance should be reported immediately."

Dumbledore finished speaking and waved his wand. Suddenly, the tables that had been set up flew off to the sides and hundreds of sleeping bags took their place.

When Dumbledore exited the room and the doors were shut, everyone started talking amongst themselves and told the other houses what had happened.

"Everyone settle down and get off to bed," Percy said, trying to sound important.

I rolled my eyes, but found a nearby sleeping bag and sat down on it. Harry and Ron laid on the two to my right while Hermione went to the one on my left.

"How do you reckon he got in?" I heard Fred asking George.

"He probably apparated or something," George shrugged as he pulled down his sleeping bag.

"You can't apparate in or out of Hogwarts," I said absentmindedly.

They both looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"Hermione told me," I shrugged.

"Enough talking everyone - go to bed!" Percy ordered.

"Go to bed he says, you must listen to the Head Boy," Fred mocked his brother in a low tone.

Percy shot him a look and George started laughing. Percy's face went red and he went off to yell at some first year Hufflepuffs that were talking.

Once everyone was laying down in their sleeping bags, the candles above us went out and there was silence. I tried to sleep, but I couldn't. My only thoughts were going towards Sirius Black. How had he manage to get into the castle without anyone seeing him?

The only thing that I knew for certain was that he was trying to get to Harry and me. Why else would he have gone directly to the Gryffindor common room?

Beside me I noticed that Harry was still awake too. I just knew that he was thinking about the same thing.

"Where do you think he is now?" I breathed.

He shrugged his shoulders in response. He opened his mouth to say something but was stopped when someone came into the room. It was Dumbledore.

"Have you found him, sir?" Percy whispered.

"There's been no sign of him," Dumbledore said. "Everything okay here?"

"Yes," he replied. "Any news on the Fat Lady?"

"She was found in a map on the fifth floor - terribly frightened. We've found a temporary replacement for her while she recovers."

There was silence for a moment and then I heard the door creak open again.

"Any news, Severus?" Dumbledore asked.

"He's nowhere to be found," Snape said. "The whole castle has been searched."

"Just as I expected. I couldn't imagine why he would linger around the castle after that..."

There was silence for another moment more. I tried my best to listen to every word that was said and act as though I was asleep at the same time.

"Any idea on how he might have gotten in?" Snape asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine..."

"Do you remember the discussion that we had at the start of the term?" Snape asked. "Do you think that there is a possibility that he could have helped-"

"I don't believe that any person in this castle would help Black get into it, Severus."

There was silence again and I heard what I assumed to be Dumbledore and Snape walking in my general direction. I tried my best to appear like I was sleeping. The footsteps stopped not far away from where Harry and I were sleeping.

"Do you think he's looking for them?" Snape said in a low voice.

"I would assume so...unless he just wanted to stop and visit his old school..." Dumbledore said.

"They should probably be told to watch out," Snape said. "I'm not sure about the boy, but I know the girl is constantly wandering the hallways whenever she pleases."

"Not unlike yourself, Severus," Dumbledore murmured.

They walked in the other direction and soon I couldn't hear footsteps at all.

* * *

><p>Sirius Black was the talk of the school for the next fee days. People where coming up with several theories on how he had gotten into the school, each one as ridiculous as the next.<p>

The replacement for the Fat Lady was just as ridiculous as the theories people were coming up with. Sir Cadogan had taken her place and he was insane. He was a knight that seemed to take everything as a challenge and would constantly change the password to the tower. It was getting to be crazy.

"I can hardly remember the passwords normally," Neville complained. "I'm doomed!"

More annoying than anything else was that Percy kept following Harry and me everywhere we went. I could hardly stand Percy to begin with, now it was just irritating.

"Is there a reason that you've been up our butts for the past few days?" I finally snapped after I caught him stalking up behind us.

"I don't know what your talking about..." he muttered and continued walking on.

Soon afterwards Harry and I were taken to the side by Professor McGonagall who looked entirely too worried.

"I know that this may come as a shock, but you both should be warned, Sirius Black is-"

"Looking for us," I said. "Probably planning out our murder as we speak..."

"We already know," Harry said. "We overheard Mr. and Mrs. Weasley talking about it."

"Oh..." she said sounding surprised. "Well, I guess that you'll understand, Mr. Potter, that I'm not going to permit you to attend evening Quidditch practices."

"What?" Harry said. "Professor, I need to practice or we'll lose!"

McGonagall looked like she was having a battle with herself as to whether or not it would be appropriate to let him practice.

"Fine, but you have to have a teacher's supervision," she said. "And Miss Potter, Professor Snape told me that you have a habit of wandering the castle and the grounds, I ask that you do not do this anymore."

* * *

><p>I was sitting in the common room, silence throughout, doing my homework peacefully along with some others. Then Harry followed by the rest of the Quidditch team barged into the room, all seeming furious.<p>

"What's the matter with you all?" I asked.

"Malfoy," Harry sneered. "Slytherin refuses to play us for the next game because he has a 'broken' arm."

"Wait, you never told us who were going to be playing instead," Angelina said to Oliver.

"Hufflepuff," Oliver muttered.

Everyone groaned and fell into some chairs that were around the fire.

"The conditions are going to be bad though," Oliver said. "So we have to concentrate. That, and they have a new Captain and Seeker, Cedric Diggory..."

Several of the girls giggled.

"Isn't he the hot one?" I asked Katie.

"Ooh! You think he is too!" she giggled. "I think that he-"

"Ladies!" Oliver said. "Concentrate! We can't let our guard down just because you all fancy him-"

"But he's so dreamy, Oliver! How could I resist?" Fred said sarcastically.

"Shut up Fred, I was talking to them," he said pointing to the girls of the team.

* * *

><p>The next day was crazy. I mostly walked around with Ron and Hermione because Oliver kept stopping Harry to give him tips for the game they are having tomorrow. What freaked me out the most was when I walked into Defense Against the Dark Arts and Lupin wasn't there. In his place stood Snape.<p>

I sat down in my usual spot next to Neville and Hermione (Harry and Ron usually sat in front of us) and took all of my things out. I put my hand up into the air slowly as he looked over in my general direction.

"Yes?"

"May I ask where Professor Lupin is?"

"He's sick today and he asked me to take over the class while he recovers."

I knew better than to ask what he was sick with, so I just nodded my head. Once the final bell rang, Snape closed the door to the classroom and walked to the front of the room and looked at us all. Ron looked back at me with a worried expression on his face: Harry wasn't there. Judging on the fact that Snape had never really been that kind to Harry, I knew that this was going to be trouble.

"I am disappointed to say that I have absolutely no lesson plan for you all today. However, I do plan on teaching you, so don't get too excited-"

The door to the room burst open and Harry came into the room. He looked like he had just run here from somewhere, no doubt that it had been away from Oliver and his many pointers to the upcoming game.

"Sorry I'm late, Professor Lupin, I-" Harry looked and saw who was standing in front of the class and stopped. "You're not Professor Lupin..."

"No, I am not and I have no desire to be at the current moment," Snape said. "I would not desire to be you at the moment either Mr. Potter - ten points from Gryffindor for your tardiness. Sit down."

"But I-"

"No excuses," he said bluntly. "Another five points from Gryffindor. If you don't sit down now, I'll make it fifty."

Harry narrowed his eyes, but took his seat next to Ron. Snape then walked towards Lupin's desk where he flipped to a portion of the book that he and I both knew that we hadn't gotten to.

"Please turn to page 394," he said.

Hermione's hand flew straight up into the air and I could have sworn that I saw Snape's eyes roll.

"Please sir," she said. "We haven't made it that far yet."

"It isn't my fault that your teacher hasn't taught you the proper material at the proper rate, Miss Granger," Snape muttered. "You should be here by now."

I flipped to the page that he asked us to go to and I saw the title.

"Werewolves?" I asked.

"Yes, Miss Potter, werewolves. I'm glad that you have the ability to read."

"Funny, I was just thinking the same thing about you," I said.

Snape's mouth twisted into a half-smile and he continued on with the class.

"Who in here can tell me the difference between a werewolf and a true wolf?" he asked.

As everyone expected, Hermione's hand flew into the air. As usual, he pretended to not notice Hermione's hand in the air even though she was practically waving it around in the air.

I hadn't actually read through the book yet, so I wasn't sure myself what the difference was. I assumed that a werewolf was only that way during a full moon, but I wasn't that sure.

"Anyone?" he asked with mock disappointment.

"We already told you," Parvati told him. "We haven't gotten that far-"

"Silence!" Snape shouted. "I shall inform Dumbledore on how badly Lupin has been teaching you."

"Please sir!" Hermione said. "The werewolf differs from the wolf in several small ways-"

"Five points from Gryffindor," Snape snarled. "That is the second time that you've spoken out of turn. Must you always be such an insufferable know-it-all."

Hermione put her hand down and sat back with tears in her eyes. It wasn't exactly unusual for her to be called this, but I guess it was just the way that he said it.

"Don't listen to him Hermione," I said quietly. "He obviously just has something lodged up his ass-"

"What was that Miss Potter?" Snape asked.

"Nothing at all," I said. "I was merely commenting on the weather."

His eyes narrowed and I crossed my arms in front of myself. Hermione started to weep now and Ron looked absolutely furious.

"Why do you ask questions if you don't expect an answer?" Ron said loudly. "You asked us a question and she knew it!"

"Detention!" Snape yelled. "I don't want to hear another word out of any of you."

The classroom remained silent for the rest of the period until we were finally released. He even stopped us all from leaving to tell us that we had to write an entire essay on how to identify and kill a werewolf.

This was ridiculous.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I know that this wasn't the best of chapters, but I had to keep up with all of the events that were happening in the story. I'll try to make the next chapter a little better.<strong>

**By the way, I would also like to apologize for any grammar mistakes that I've made. Stupid auto-correct...**

**Anyway, I would love it if you all would continue to comment. I want to thank everyone who has commented in the past, I really do appreciate every one of them. :D**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	13. Falling for Dementors

**HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 13**

The next morning I woke to the sound of pouring rain and hard winds outside of the castle. It was going to be an interesting game with this kind of weather...

I looked around and saw that several of the other third year girls had already woken up and gone down to breakfast, so I decided that I would do that too. I threw on some jeans and a coat and left for the Great Hall.

When I got there, there was no doubt that the entire team was freaking out about the game that was about to happen. I guess that the weather probably killed their spirit.

"Honestly people," I laughed. "This is Hufflepuff that you're going against. You all always crush them, what are you worrying about?"

"She's right," Oliver said. "We can still do this - look at all the practice that we've done!"

"Practice that we were forced to do..." George muttered.

It wasn't long afterwards and I was walking towards the field, huddled under a umbrella with Ron and Hermione, which was oddly uncomfortable. The wind was insane and the field was completely soaked.

"This is ridiculous!" Neville yelled over the wind as he came up behind us.

"You're telling us!" Hermione said. "It's freezing out here!"

We found seats in the front row of the stadium and Hermione did a spell that dried off the seats for us. Once we sat down, I looked out onto the field to see if anyone was on it yet.

Beside me, I could feel Hermione shivering a lot and her teeth were chattering. Ron took this as an insinuative to put his arm around her to warm her. She was blushing a lot. I gave her a thumbs up and she rolled her eyes.

Feeling like a complete third wheel, I asked Neville if I could share the umbrella with him so I could have more room.

Then the teams marched out onto the field. Each one of them was already soaked because of the heavy rain and I couldn't hear a single thing that was happening on the field.

They took off and started playing the game. I noticed that Harry wasn't moving around all that much and when he did, he nearly knocked other people off their broomsticks.

"There is no way he can see through those glasses," I said over the rain. "How's he going to play?"

"I have an idea!" Hermione said.

She stood up and ran down towards the field and to Madam Hooch who was the referee. They called a time out and Hermione took Harry's glasses and did something to them.

"Smooth move with Hermione," I said to Ron.

"I don't know what you mean..." he said going a little pink.

Within moments, they were back on the field and Hermione was back in the stands. The next thing I knew, the players were back up in the skies.

"What did you do?" I asked as Ron tried to casually put his arm around Hermione again.

"I used a spell on his glasses that makes them repel water," she said.

"Brilliant," I nodded in approval.

The game went on for a while and then I noticed that Cedric Diggory was moving purposefully towards something.

"I think Cedric sees the Snitch!" I said as I nudged Neville in the arm.

"I don't think Harry does though," Neville said nervously.

There was a crack of thunder and a flash of lightening not far from the stadium just as I saw Oliver yelling something at Harry. He quickly turned around and bolted after Cedric and the Snitch.

Everyone in the stands stood up and Ron, Hermione, Neville, and I were practically leaning over the side of the stadium to try to watch Harry and Cedric as they flew up into the sky and into the clouds. I could hardly see them as another flash of lightening went through the sky.

Then the crowd began to panic and I didn't understand why. I looked around and understood within seconds as a sudden chill went over me. Dementors were flying onto the field in all directions.

I heard a sudden scream and began to feel faint. The last thing I remembered seeing was a cloaked figure in front of me and a rush of air before everything went black and the voice in my head still screamed.

"Not them, please!" a woman screamed. "Take me instead!"

"Stand aside you stupid girl!"

There was a flash of green light, a cruel laugh, and a final scream before everything went away to the darkness.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe that they went right for both of them."<p>

"Yeah, lucky you saw her George."

"And at least Dumbledore stopped Harry before he hit the ground."

Slowly the room came into focus as I came back into consciousness. I looked around and saw several people - most of them dressed in Gryffindor Quidditch robes - surrounding two beds that were in the hospital wing.

"What happened?" I asked as I sat up slowly.

"You...fell out off the stadium," Hermione said. "There was a dementor in front of you and you sort of just fainted."

I looked at my arms and legs and noticed that I didn't have any broken bones on me. How did that happen? The stadium seats must have been about fifty feet in the air.

"George caught you," Ginny told me. "You nearly hit the ground. He got there just in time."

I looked directly to my right and saw George smiling weakly. I took his hand and squeezed it lightly and smiled.

"Thanks," I said. "What about Harry?"

I looked over to my left and saw Harry laying in the bed, still unconscious.

"Well, he fell off of his broom," Hermione said. "Dumbledore slowed down his fall before he hit the ground, so he'll be okay."

As if on cue, Harry slowly started opening his eyes. When he was fully awake, we told him what happened and it was also mentioned that Cedric had gotten the Snitch just before he fell. Apparently he has wanted a rematch at the time, but the'd won the game fair and square. Another shocking thing that happened was that Harry's broom had flown into the Whomping Willow and had been torn to pieces.

"Alright, you all need to clear out the room," Madam Pomfrey said as she came over to the crowd. "You can visit later."

George let go of my hand and walked out of the room along with the Quidditch team, Ginny, and Neville. The only people that stayed were Ron and Hermione.

"Dumbledore was furious," Ron said once the room was clear. "I've never seen him that angry."

"Yeah," Hermione said. "I'm not sure who was angrier, him or Snape."

"Snape?" Harry and Ron said at once.

Hermione rolled her eyes and then looked over at me. Harry and Ron then seemed to understand something that I didn't.

"What?" I asked.

"Honestly, are you that oblivious?" Hermione laughed. "Snape is quite fond of you."

"Yeah," Ron said. "You're the only person outside of his own house that he cares about."

"Probably because I'm the only one that recognizes him as an actual human being," I muttered.

"He doesn't really seem that human to me," Ron said. "More like a bat, that man is."

"Exibit A," I said motioning to Ron.

* * *

><p>I was released from the hospital wing the following day. Harry had to stay there during the weekend only because he had fallen from a greater height and actually had hit the ground and managed to break a couple of bones.<p>

I visited him later that day and had actually gotten alone with him, something that I had been waiting for. I needed to talk to him about what I had heard and I knew that the only time I would get him alone was at night.

"You heard the screaming too?" he said.

"Not just that," I said. "I heard a voice. Did you hear it?"

"The woman?" Harry whispered.

I nodded and waited a moment until I spoke again.

"Harry...I think that was our mum..." I said quietly. "Just before she died."

"I do too..."

We only got to talk a little while after before I was yelled at for being out of bed at this hour. I was shooed out of the hospital wing and I made my way through the dark and quiet halls. I decided that I would take a shortcut through a courtyard just outside of the castle. I was halfway through it when I saw something familiar. It was that dog, the same one that I had seen before.

It started wagging its tail when it saw me and ran over to me. I started petting it and jumped all around happily. I gave it some more water and food because I knew it needed it judging by its appearance. Once it was fed, I decided it was best to go on my way. I was bound to get in trouble already because it was midnight, now I was out on the grounds.

When I was in the castle, something dawned on me. What was a stray dog doing at Hogwarts? I'd never seen one in this area before and it appeared to be just a regular dog, nothing magical about it.

"Miss Potter!"

I swung around quickly and saw that Snape was standing behind me.

"What do you think you're doing?" he said.

"I was just visiting Harry in the hospital," I said. "I needed to talk to him privately."

"It's midnight," he said. "Couldn't you have talks to him at an earlier hour?"

"Ron and Hermione were there all day," I said. "I didn't want to talk about it in front of them."

He nodded slowly, but still looked concerned and angry. He motioned for me to walk with him and I followed him.

"Are you all right?" he asked quietly.

I knew that he was talking about the dementors and I nodded slowly.

"I am assuming that was what you wanted to talk to your brother about..."

"Exactly..." I said. "Professor, why is it always Harry and me that pass out when the dementors come around?" I asked. "Why is it only us?"

"Dementors feed on a person's despair..." he said slowly. "Perhaps they are drawn to you because you two have had more struggles throughout your life than anyone else..."

We walked slowly through the hallway and I watched the portraits beside us stir as we walked by them. Some of them complained that we were waking them up.

"I heard my mother..." I said quietly.

I looked over at Snape and he looked almost like he was in some kind of pain and he looked even paler than usual.

"What did she say?" he asked in a hollow voice.

"It was when Vol-I mean You-Know-Who killed her..." I said quietly. "He was trying to get to us and she was...you know...Harry said that her heard it too..."

"I'm sorry..." Snape said in an odd voice that didn't sound like himself.

We stayed quiet until we made it to the Fat Lady's portrait, but she wasn't there. We stood there for a minute without really saying anything. Snape looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn't.

"You knew my mother, didn't you?"

There was a pause before he nodded and he looked at the floor, obviously not wanting to talk about it.

"I knew that you knew my father..." I said. "I was told that you two didn't get along."

"That's an understatement..." he muttered.

Then I looked up and saw that the Fat Lady standing in her portrait. Surprisingly, she didn't ask any questions. I gave her the password and stepped through the portrait.

"Thank you for listening..." I smiled.

"Goodnight Miss Potter," Snape said with a half-smile.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading - I hope that you liked this chapter! Sorry that this was kind of late, I was at my dad's wedding all day and didn't get a chance to update earlier. Tell me what you think! PLEASE REVIEW!<strong>


	14. A Trip to Hogsmeade

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 14**

When Monday came around, Harry was finally let out of the hospital wing. We were also pleased to see that Professor Lupin was back from being sick. Right when we got into the room, I could already hear people complaining about how Snape had given us homework - which I actually did do - and how unfair and rude he had been to the class.

"Really, don't worry about it," he said.

"But, I already did it," I said.

"Me too!" Hermione said.

"That's fine, I'll give you both extra credit or something."

That day during class, we learned all about some kind of creature called hinkypunks. They were weird looking creatures that I can't say that I cared for. I was thrilled to be able to leave the room when the bell rang, but was stopped by Professor Lupin who wanted a word with both Harry and myself.

"I heard about the Quidditch match," he said when everyone was gone. "I'm sorry about your broom Harry, was it completely destroyed?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "It flew into the Whomping Willow, so it didn't really have much of a chance."

"I remember when they planted the Whomping Willow..." Lupin said. "It was the same year that I came to Hogwarts."

"Wow, it's that old," I said jokingly.

"You're funny," Lupin laughed.

"So, I guess that you heard about the dementors too?" Harry asked.

"Unfortunately," Lupin sighed. "I guess it isn't much of a shock that they went there - the stadium was filled with people and they are starving. I can't say that anyone has seen Professor Dumbledore that angry before, not to mention old Severus...though I have seen him angry on several occasions..."

Then something dawned on me. Back on the train when we were coming to Hogwarts, Lupin had done something that made the dementors go away. It was some kind of defensive spell that Hermione had mentioned.

"Can you teach us how to make them go away?" I asked.

"Well...it's very complicated..." Lupin thought. "It's very advanced...perhaps we could give it a try."

* * *

><p>A couple of weeks went by and then the talk of Hogsmeade came up again. It was kind of depressing that I couldn't go, but I figured that I could figure something out that would pass away the time. A lot of people were talking about doing some Christmas shopping there so they could get that out of the way. I would have loved to been able to do that. For the past two years, I hadn't really been able to do that as well as I would have wanted to. There were several things that people were talking about that were at Hogsmeade that I would love to give away as gifts.<p>

"There has to be some way that you could sneak in," Ron said. "I'm sure if you both just blended in with the crowd, no one would even notice."

"Please," Dean laughed. "Harry and Emily Potter go somewhere without anyone noticing?"

"I'm just saying..." Ron muttered.

I looked over at Fred and George who both seemed to be up to something. I could always tell when the two of them were planning on doing something, it was like it was written all over their foreheads.

"What?" I asked them.

"You'll see later," Fred smiled innocently at me.

It just so happened that I would find out shortly after. I was walking in the hallway towards the Gryffindor common room once everyone was leaving for Hogsmeade. I figured that I might look over the Potions essay that I wrote to make sure everything was right. That was when I was yanked over to the side by Fred and George.

"Where is your brother?" Fred asked.

"He mentioned something about reading a book that Oliver gave him," I said.

"Wait here," Fred said as he ran off.

Both George and I stood there kind of awkwardly while we waited for our brothers to show up. I wasn't really sure what this about and I wished that they would hurry up so I could figure out what was so important that I had to be stopped in the middle of the hallway.

"This better be good..." I said.

"Believe me, it is," George said.

I looked down the hallway to see if Fred was coming back yet, but the hallway was completely empty aside from George and me. I looked over at George who stood looking ahead, his brown eyes gleaming in the setting sun...his red hair was the perfect length, just long enough to put your hand through...his full lips-

"Okay," Fred interrupted my thoughts.

I looked over and noticed that Fred and Harry were now standing next to us. Fred smiled as he pulled something out of his cloak and showed it to us. It was a blank piece of parchment. I looked at it for a second, half expecting it to explode or something.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"The secret to our success," George said.

"A piece of parchment?" I asked.

George sighed dramatically and threw an arm around me. I somehow loved the feeling of him being close to me...what was getting into me!

"It's not just a piece of old parchment, my dear," George said. "You see, if you know how to use it, it could become the most useful thing that you will ever own."

"So what is so special about it?" Harry asked.

"Watch - 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!'" Fred said as he tapped on the parchment.

Suddenly, writing began to appear on it. On the front it read:

Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs

Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present

_THE MARAUDER'S MAP_

I looked closely at the map to see that it was an entire, detailed map of Hogwarts. My mouth dropped when I saw several little dots throughout the school that had names on them.

"Is that actually-?"

"Dumbledore pacing in his study?" George smiled. "Yes, it is."

"He does that a lot..." George said looking at the map.

I saw several more dots throughout the school, mostly teachers and ghosts that were walking around. Then I looked at the sides of the map and noticed some passages that I'd never seen before in my time here. They led right into Hogsmeade.

"Now, you can go into Hogsmeade through these passages," Fred told us. "Filch know about these four - don't use them - and this one is blocked by the Whomping Willow."

"So your best bet is to use this one right here," George pointed. "It leads right into the cellar at Honeydukes."

Fred and George both smiled at us as they handed over the map to us.

"You're just going to give it to us?" I asked them. "You can't tell me that you don't want it anymore."

"Well, we figured that you two would need it more," George said.

"Think of it as the best Christmas gift that you've ever had," Fred said. "Oh, when you're finished with it, just say 'Mischief managed' and it'll go blank."

"I guess that we better be off," George said.

"See you at Honeydukes," Fred smiled.

George winked at me and then they ran off to meet up with all of the other kids that were going to Hogsmeade, leaving Harry and me dumbfounded.

What if we were caught? What if this map was just a joke that Fred and George were playing on us?

"Think we should go with it?" Harry asked.

"Why not?" I said. "It couldn't hurt."

We walked towards the statue of the one-eyed witch where the one secret passage was. I checked the map to see if anyone was coming and then we tried to get through.

"How do we-?" Harry asked.

Suddenly, a speech bubble popped up right where we were standing. I took the opportunity to try out what it said.

"Dissendium," I said with my wand pointing at the statue.

The statue moved aside and there was a small entrance that only allowed one of us in at a time. Harry went first and I went in after him. We went down what seemed to be a stone slide for a minute or two and then we landed on the ground. Unfortunately, I landed right on top of Harry.

"Ow!" Harry said.

"Sorry," I said as I stood up. "Can you see anything?"

"No," Harry said in front of me.

"Lumos," I said.

The light from my wand lit up and I saw that there was a passageway ahead of us made up entirely of dirt. We walked ahead for a while through the passageway. After what seemed like forever, we finally reached the end of the tunnel. Above us was what appeared to be a trap door. We put out the light on our wands and opened it up slowly.

"Get another box of Jelly Slugs!" someone called out. "They're running out!"

We stood underneath the trapdoor for a minute to make sure that no one else was coming. Harry stepped up first and looked around before he helped me up. Then we walked slowly into the store and our mouths dropped.

There was candy filling the shelves all around the store, more candy than I had ever seen in my life. We walked further into the store, going unnoticed because the place was packed with Hogwarts students, and we eventually found Ron and Hermione.

"Do you think that Emily would like one of these?" Ron asked.

He was holding up a blood-flavored lollipop that Hermione was looking at with complete disgust.

"Definitely not, they're meant for vampires," Hermione said.

"Well, I know Harry will like one of these," Ron said as he picked up something else.

In his hands was a jar of what was labeled as Cockroach Clusters.

"No, I don't think I would," Harry said.

Both of them jumped when they saw us standing behind them. Ron laughed and Hermione was shocked and almost angry.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked. "You both could get in so much trouble!"

I laughed and Harry went on explaining everything that had happened with the map. I decided to walk around the store and look at some more things that they were selling. It was completely magnificent.

"Emily?" Neville said beside me.

"Hey Neville," I smiled.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in shock. "I thought that you didn't get your permission slip signed."

"I didn't," I said. "I'm not really supposed to be here."

"So, how did you-?"

"I'll tell you later, I promise," I said. "It's a long story."

I walked along the shop more and then I looked out the window to see two red-headed twins making faces at me. I laughed and hit the window causing them to step backwards.

I ran out of the store to find them waiting there for me. I stood in between them as we walked down the street. They decided that they wanted to show me all of the good shops during my first visit here.

"Of course, we must show you the best of them all first," Fred said.

"I thought you were supposed to save the best for last," I said.

"When do we ever do anything that we're supposed to do?" George asked.

The first place I went to was Zonko's Joke Shop, the best place that I would ever go to according to Fred and George. When we got there, the twins jumped in front of me and grabbed the handles to the door.

"Prepare yourself," Fred said.

"Your life will never be the same after this," George said.

They opened the door and ushered me into the building. When I got in there, I immediately understood why they loved this place so much. It was basically their form of heaven.

The walls of the shop were filled with all sorts of gadgets that would make anyone else's life a living hell. There were Dingbombs, Hiccough Sweets, Frog Spawn Soap, Sugar Quills, Nose-Biting Teacups, and so much more.

Fred, embracing his inner child, ran through the store to look at everything as if he'd never seen any of it before.

"Fantastic isn't it?" George said while throwing his arm around my shoulder.

"Yeah," I said in awe. "You two need to step up your game if you want to compete with this."

"You're telling me," he sighed.

* * *

><p>After I finished my grand tour with Fred and George, we decided that we should probably find Harry so I could go back with him.<p>

"I think I saw them go into the Three Broomsticks earlier," Fred said. "Maybe we could-"

"There they are," I said pointing ahead.

I noticed that they all looked kind of shocked and confused about something. Harry, on the other hand, looked as though someone had just hit him with something really heavy.

"Harry!" I called.

They all turned in my direction and came running over. As they got closer, I noticed that Ron and Hermione kept looking around nervously, obviously hiding something.

"What's wrong?" I asked them. "Harry, what is it?"

"Emily - you see, well, I - we just heard that - you know-" Hermione stammered.

"WHAT?" I said. "Just spit it out!"

"Emily, it's about Sirius Black," Ron said nervously. "He was-"

"He was our parent's friend," Harry said through gritted teeth. "Dad was best friends with him when they went to school. Then he went on Voldemort's side and brought him to our parents. He is the reason our parents are dead!"

"What?" I said, my jaw dropping.

Harry looked beside himself and seemed as though he couldn't talk. Ron seemed to take this as a sign that he would have to finish what Harry was saying.

"Emily, I don't know how to put this, so I guess I'll just be blunt," Ron said nervously. "Sirius Black is your godfather."

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I know I probably could have done better with this chapter, sorry! I know that a lot of people are probably mad that I made Sirius the godfather, but I do have a lot of things planned out with him as godfather that I'm sure that you all will like. By the way, I'm not sure if it was clear, but he is also Harry's godfather - I'm not going to change that. Tell me what you think and maybe give me some suggestions for future chaptersbooks! PLEASE REVIEW!**


	15. The Prisoner of Azkaban

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 15**

The next morning I woke up to find the common room completely empty. I knew that today was the first day of the Christmas break that we were getting, so I kind of figured that not many people were going to be here. I pulled out the Marauder's map and saw three dots in the Great Hall that showed that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had gone down to breakfast. Hermione had tried to get me to go with them, but I didn't really want to.

I put the map away and decided that I would go for a walk. I decided that I wouldn't go too far because of the dementors, so I just went into a courtyard outside of the school. That, much like the common room, was completely empty. I sat in a nearby bench and thought about everything that had happened the day before. Sirius Black was my godfather...he was a murderous traitor...how did my parents not see that coming? Was he that good at hiding the fact that he was on Voldemort's sign? Did my parents ever suspect anything? Why hadn't anyone told Harry and me about this before?

Then I saw a familiar dog sitting beside me. It was wagging its tail and just looking up at me. I smiled at it and transfigured a piece of candy that I found in my pocket into a big piece of ham. I figured that he might like some kind of meat, I'm sure he wasn't getting much. The dog ate the ham happily and then began to run off. It looked back at me and towards the forest.

"What?" I asked it

It looked as though it wanted me to follow it, so I did. It couldn't really hurt. After all, it probably just found something that it wanted to show me. I followed it for a little while and we ended up a little distance into the Forbidden Forest before it stopped. I looked around and saw nothing but trees. What was it trying to show me?

I was completely and utterly shocked when I turned to see a man standing next to me. I stepped back a few feet quickly and pulled out my wand.

"Where did you come from?" I asked. "What do you want?"

The man that stood in front of me looked oddly familiar. He had long, mangled black hair and his clothes seemed to be hanging off his body. He looked incredibly unhealthy and lost. When I pointed my wand at him, he stepped backwards and held up his hands.

"Please, I'm not going to harm you," he said.

I didn't let down my guard as I looked around the forest more. What happened to the dog? It was just there? Did it run off when the man appeared?

"Then what do you want?" I asked him. "Where is your wand?"

He kneeled on the ground and pulled his wand out of his pocket. He rolled it over to me and looked up at me innocently as I grabbed it and put it in my pocket. I tried to remember where I had seen this man's face before, but I couldn't remember. Then it dawned on me. I had only seen this man's face on posters all around the wizarding world and on the Muggle news station.

"You're Sirius Black," I snarled.

He stood up slowly from the ground and backed away a few more feet. He didn't seem like he was going to try to attack me, but that didn't stop me from pointing my wand directly at his chest.

"Please, let me explain-"

"Why should I let you explain?" I said, raising my voice. "You're responsible for my parents deaths and you're probably here to kill me and my brother, aren't you?"

"No," he said.

We stood there silently for a moment, I didn't really know what to say. I felt like I should want to kill him, but somehow I couldn't. I know that if Harry was here, he wouldn't wait for him to say anything right now, he was too angry.

"What do you want then?" I asked him.

"I want to explain something to you," he said slowly.

"What?" I asked him. "That you've suddenly come over to our side now that your master is gone? Please, don't make me laugh."

"I was never on his side," he said. "That's what I wanted to explain to you. I would never sell out your parents - I would rather die."

"You're lying."

"Please, just listen, that's all I'm asking."

I decided that it couldn't hurt to hear what he had to say. If I didn't believe him, I would just turn him into the dementors like I should have done in the first place.

"Fine," I said.

It took Black a moment to start speaking, but he started after a moment.

"While your parents were still alive, they appointed me their Secret-Keeper-"

"What is that?"

"It's the one person that knows where they are hiding and no one else can find them unless that person says so. Now, before their death, I wanted them to change their Secret-Keeper because I knew that people would think that it was me. So, I convinced them to change it to Peter Pettigrew-"

"The man that you killed-"

"I didn't kill Peter, Emily, please let me continue. After they appointed him the new Secret-Keeper, I decided that I would still check up on him. That was the night that your parents were killed and it was all my fault. I shouldn't have talked them into switching to Peter, it was a mistake. He was the one that turned them in - not me!"

It sounded reasonable and he didn't appear to be lying. I wasn't sure if I should believe him though.

"Why should I believe you?"

"Because Peter is still alive, he's here at the school right now-"

"What does that prove?"

"I was thrown into Azkaban for the murder of Peter Pettigrew - a man that was supposedly innocent!"

"So he faked his death, so he could hide from you."

"Why would an innocent man hide from me? Why would he want to fake his death?"

Everything seemed to add up. Maybe I should believe him...but what if he was lying about it all?

"How do I know that I can trust you?" I asked quietly. "How do I know that you aren't just trying to finish off my brother and me?"

"If I wanted you dead, I would have killed you a long time ago, I've been watching you for a long time, Emily."

It was then that I realized just how dumb I was. He was the dog, the one that I had been seeing all year, the one that I had been helping. Sirius Black was an Animagus, just like Professor McGonagall. That must have been how he had made it this far.

"Why haven't you said anything to Harry?" I asked him.

"I knew that you were more understanding than Harry," he said.

I wasn't sure why, but I couldn't help but feel that he was right. He didn't really seem that threatening and I somehow felt that I could trust him. Maybe I was being dumb, but he seemed like a decent guy and he really did have a point about killing me. If he had really wanted me dead, he wouldn't have just sat around and waited - he would have done it by now and he's had several opportunities to get away with it.

I lowered my wand slowly and just looked at him. I pulled his wand out of my pocket and threw it back over to him. I knew that if he really was going to kill me, then now would be his chance. No one knew that I was out here and I'm sure no one would notice for a while.

He reached out and caught it in the air. He put it back into his pocket and just smiled at me.

"What about Harry?" I asked him.

"If you want to tell him, then go ahead," he said. "I think that it's up to you."

"I don't think that I'll tell him yet..." I said slowly. "He's really angry about it right now and I think that we should wait until he calms down."

Sirius nodded slowly. We kind of just stood there for a minute or two. I wasn't really sure what to do now. I just realized that the man that I believed was the reason my parents were dead wasn't really who I believed he was. I guess that it didn't really make any sense for me to believe him, but normally my instinct was right. Looking back, I had always trusted the right person even though they didn't really deserve to be trusted and I always ended up being right. I just hoped that I wasn't wrong this time.

"Thanks for food and water by the way, it really did help," he smiled.

"Anytime..."

After a couple more minutes, I was back in the courtyard. I had decided that it was best not to linger in the forest too long because I might get caught out there and then there would be a lot of explaining to do.

I promised Sirius that I would sneak food out to him as much as I could throughout the upcoming days. It was going to be hard to keep it a secret from everyone, but I was confident that they wouldn't figure it out.

I walked into the castle and pulled out the Marauder's Map again and did the spell to open it up. I saw that Harry, Ron, and Hermione weren't in the Great Hall anymore. After a moment of scanning through the map, I saw that they were in Hagrid's hut. Then I saw another dot moving along where I was. It was Lupin.

"Mischief managed!" I said quickly.

I hid the map inside of my cloak quickly before I saw Lupin coming around the corner.

"Ah, hello Emily!"

"Oh-um, hello Professor Lupin," I said.

"Are you doing anything at the moment?" he asked.

"Not at the moment, do you need something?"

"Actually yes, I was wondering if you could go by Professor Snape's office to pick up a potion for me - he'll know which one it is."

"Okay, sure," I said.

"I'll be in my office."

I was relieved that he didn't notice that I was up to anything and I knew for sure at that moment that no one was going to find out what, or who, I was hiding.

I quickly walked off to the dungeons where Snape was. I noticed that it was kind of odd that Lupin seemed to always be getting some kind of potion from Snape and I was beginning to think that they were all the same potion. Maybe he was just sick all of the time and needed something to make him feel better.

I walked down the steps and into the dungeons and I smelled all kinds of ingredients and different smelling fumes coming from the room. The door was wide open, but I decided that it was best to not just barge into the room, so I just stood at the entrance.

"Professor?" I called looking in.

"Come in."

I walked into the room and saw Snape standing in front of a cauldron that had an odd colored smoke coming out of it. He raised an eyebrow when he saw that it was me that was standing there.

"Yes?"

"Professor Lupin sent me here, he said that he wanted some kind of potion."

"I see..." he said in his usual bored tone.

He walked over towards a table that held an assortment of different potions and he looked through each of them. I looked at all of them and noticed that each one had a label on it...except the one that he picked up and handed over to me.

"Tell him that I'll have some more ready tomorrow morning," he said.

"Okay," I said. "Am I not allowed to know what this is?"

"It really isn't your concern, is it?"

"I guess not..." I said. "I was just curious."

"Let's just say that it keeps your professor's illness in control," he said.

"I'm glad that isn't vague."

The corner of his mouth went up as he walked back over to the cauldron that he was working with when I came in.

"What about that one?" I asked.

"This is just something that Madam Pomfrey asked me to make," he said. "Why the sudden interest in potions?"

"I've always liked potions," I said. "It's my favorite class actually."

"How flattering," Snape said in a casual tone.

"What makes you think that it has anything to do with you?" I smiled.

Snape let out a small, rare chuckle. I was nearly shocked, but I tried my best, and successfully, hid my surprise.

"Well, I guess that I'll go deliver this to Professor Lupin," I said.

Snape nodded and continued to work with his potion.

* * *

><p>After I had finished delivering the potion to Lupin, I went up to the Gryffindor common room where the map told me that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were now. Right when I walked into the room, all three of them stopped talking and looked up at me.<p>

"Where have you been?" Harry asked.

"I was just giving a potion to Lupin," I said. "He wanted me to go get it for him. Why, what happened?"

"We went to Hagrid's-" Ron started.

"Yeah, I know that already," I said, receiving a look from each of them. "It was on the map."

Hermione gave me a disapproving look as Harry picked up where Ron had left off.

"There's going to be a trial about Buckbeak," Harry said. "Apparently Malfoy told his father all about it and he wants Buckbeak dead."

"That's ridiculous!" I said. "Draco didn't even get hurt!"

"Everyone knows that, Malfoy is just a prat," Ron said. "He can get away with anything just because he has money."

I didn't tell Harry about Sirius that night. I knew that I probably should have, but he kept going on about how much he hated him. I didn't really know what to say the entire time, so I just kept my mouth shut.

How was I going to convince him that Sirius is innocent?

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading - I hope that you liked it.<strong>

**A couple of people commented on whether or not Fred and George were actually aware that Sirius is Emily's godfather and now that I look back, it is pretty unclear as to what is going on there. Sorry about that! They actually did hear what they were talking about, which didn't really matter because I would have had Emily tell them if they didn't hear in the first place. Thanks for pointing that out! XD**

**I'm really happy that you all like the interaction between Snape and Emily. I know that some people might have been disappointed that I didn't make Snape her godfather, but I do have my reasonings. I do plan on having those two having a very close relationship even though he isn't her legal godfather. Just thought that I should clear that up.**

**By the way, again, I am planning on taking this story to the Deathly Hallows. I've been wanting to write this story for a long time and I planned a lot out initially. Hmmm...what do you all think of me making a little "fun facts" thing once I'm finished making all of these? I know that it's kind of dumb, but some people might find it interesting. A lot of the things that I planned out originally didn't really make it into the story, so I thought that some people might like to know what those were. It's an idea - tell me what you think about it. Too dumb? Wow, I'm really rambling here...**

**"Pleaseunderstand" - So, I put what you said into Google translate and this is what I got: _"I am ruthless! Has given that many reasons, you actually also elect him. The time all wasted. . . Actually this is suppressed, why can you should change? I intentionally use Chinese to write, such you cannot understand. . ." _The translation kind of came out a little confusing, but I am assuming, correct me if I'm wrong, that you are not happy with my decision to make Sirius as godfather. I would love to explain why I didn't choose the person that you had in mind, but I'm not really sure who exactly that is at the moment, so if you would please elaborate on what you are saying, preferably in English, I would be happy to explain my reasoning. I am sorry that you consider this story "a waste of time," but, as an "author," I can't really please everyone that is reading. Thank you for reading my story and I appreciate your comment despite the negative connotation.**

**So, tell me what you think about Emily knowing that Sirius is innocent. BlueMoon-Tenshi actually gave me the idea a while back and I really liked it. Emily, in the past, always has trusted the right people even though they didn't really deserve it. How do you think that Harry's going to take it (Yes, I have already planned out that part - sorry, I'm getting a little ahead of myself)?**

**As always, I am happy to hear anything that you all have to say! PLEASE REVIEW!**


	16. Christmas Cheer

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 16**

As Christmas break continued, the teachers began to set up the usual decorations around the castle - which looked magnificent I may add. Even though not many students were around during the holidays, the teachers never failed to decorate the castle beautifully every year that I had been here.

At least twice a day, everyday, I managed to sneak large piles of food over to Sirius, who was completely grateful. I even managed to find an old coat in a closet that I gave to him so he wouldn't be so cold.

"Honestly, you don't have to worry about me," he said. "I'll be fine. I've been keeping warm in the Shrieking Shack recently."

"Fine, but promise that you'll wear the coat," I told him. "I enchanted it to regulate the wearers temperature."

"You're too good to me," he smiled.

Harry still wasn't aware that I had been meeting Sirius secretly almost every day. I wasn't sure if I was going to tell him anytime soon because I knew that it would be difficult to explain to him without him wanted to go and kill Sirius right away.

I had been talking with Sirius a lot lately and I realized that he really was a good guy and I could completely understand why my father had been friends with him. He was still a little rough around the edges because of his time spent in Azkaban, but other than that he was really nice to me. The only thing that really bothered me was that he wouldn't tell me where he had seen Peter Pettigrew in Hogwarts. He said that he was afraid that I would alert him or something and he didn't really want to get me involved if he didn't have to.

When Christmas finally came around, I was woken up by Hermione who was shaking me, a huge smile on her face.

"Wake up!" she squealed. "It's Christmas!"

I jumped out of bed and ran down to the common room with Hermione to find that Harry and Ron were already awake and were tearing apart their own gifts. Harry was currently holding up a sweater that had the Gryffindor lion knitted on the front, no doubt that it was from Mrs. Weasley.

I ran over to my first gift and ripped it open. It was, as I suspected, another one of Mrs. Weasley's knitted sweaters. Mine had the Hogwarts symbol sewn onto the front of it. I actually did always like the sweaters that Mrs. Weasley made and I told myself that I would have to send a thank you note over to her.

My other gifts included a large box filled with Zonko's products from Fred, a box of chocolates from Neville, a pair of used socks from the Dursleys, a book called How to Charm that Special Wizard from Hermione (I rolled my eyes at this one and made sure that Harry and Ron didn't see it), a framed picture of my mum and dad from Harry, and cauldron cakes from Ron.

"This one is from your lover boy," Ron winked at me as Harry was practically roaring with laughter.

I rolled my eyes and I could feel my face reddening a little bit as I snatched the gift out of his hands. I walked over to the couch and opened up the gift without looking at anyone else. I opened up the box and found a necklace inside. It was a small, silver heart that had the letter E on it. I noticed that it had a latch on it and I opened it up to see that there was a picture George and me from earlier this year and we were waving at the camera and smiling. After looking at the picture for a minute, I noticed that George's eyes kept looking over at me in the picture and he didn't really seem to be paying attention to anything else but me.

"What are you all smily about?" Harry laughed at me.

"Nothing," I said too quickly as I shut the locket.

"He got you a necklace!" Hermione squealed as she ran over to me. "And it's in the shape of a heart - I told you that he loves you!"

"Shut up Hermione!"

"George and Emily sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-" Ron sung.

"I will kill you if you finish that song!"

"It's not nice to kill your future brother-in-law," Harry laughed.

I rolled my eyes and sat back down on the couch. I put the necklace on and held it in may hands. I didn't care what they said, I still liked it...

"Hey, you missed one," Ron said to Harry.

I looked over at the tree and saw that there was a weird looking gift underneath it. I couldn't really tell what kind of shape it actually was because it was kind of dark where it sat. When Harry picked it up, I knew instantly what it is before he was finished tearing up the paper.

"It's a Firebolt!" Ron said.

"I can't believe it," Harry said with a stunned look on his face.

"Who's it from?" Hermione asked.

Harry looked back at the wrapping paper and looked through it all. He shrugged his shoulders and continued to admire the broom that he was holding with Ron. Hermione, on the other hand, look absolutely horrified and had a look of disapproval on her face.

I decided that I would go outside to visit Sirius while Hermione went into lecture mode on Harry, which was something that I wasn't interested in at all. I went upstairs to get dressed - wearing Mrs. Weasley's sweater that she made me - and then ran down the stairs. No one really noticed me leaving because Ron was going off on Hermione because Crookshanks had attacked Scabbers again.

I pulled out the Marauder's Map and checked to make sure that I wasn't being followed before I went out to the spot that I usually met Sirius. I saw him walking through the forest, which was covered in snow, and he was smiling when he saw me ahead of him.

"Merry Christmas!" he said.

"Merry Christmas," I smiled back. "Sorry that I don't have anything for you, I didn't-"

"Emily, you've done enough for me," he laughed. "I would have gotten you something, but I didn't think you would appreciate it if I stole anything from Hogsmeade."

"No, probably not," I laughed. "Oh, I'll save you some things from the Christmas feast that were having this afternoon. I know that they'll be serving a lot."

"Thanks," he smiled.

We didn't really say too much after that. I told him everything that I got from other people.

"That locket is new," he commented. "Who's that from?"

"Oh, that's from George," I said.

"Are you two dating?"

"No," I said quickly. "We're just friends."

"Yeah, okay," he laughed. "Because friends give each other heart-shaped lockets all the time."

I ignored what he said and changed the subject to Harry.

"Harry got a Firebolt, you know?" I said.

"Considering that I got it for him, yes I do know," he said.

"That was you?" I said, completely shocked.

We talked for a little while longer before we decided that I had been away from the castle a little too long. I quickly did a spell that would cover up my tracks in the snow, then I walked back into the castle a second later and made my way towards the Great Hall. I checked the clock to see that it was nearly noon, so the feast would be starting soon.

"What are you doing out here?"

I spun around and saw Snape walking up behind me. Once I thought about it, I realized that it was a little odd that I was on the opposite side of the castle from where the Gryffindor Tower was. I was going to have to come up with some lame excuse…

"I was just coming out to see the snow," I said.

"Alone?" he asked. "It's Christmas, you're supposed to be with people on this day, aren't you?"

"I could say the same to you," I said. "Merry Christmas by the way."

"I was actually on my way to the Great Hall for the Christmas feast," he said in defense. "Merry Christmas to you too."

We stood facing each other for a minute, but with a single move we were both walking together towards the Great Hall. We didn't really talk much, but I suspected that he knew I was up to something. I hoped I was wrong…

"That locket…" Snape said looking at me. "Is it new?"

"Yes, it's a gift," I said.

"From Mr. George Weasley, I presume," he said.

"Why would you guess that?" I asked.

"It's quite obvious to tell the truth," he said bluntly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"To believe that I thought you were intelligent," he muttered.

"I'm not sure if that's an insult or a compliment."

"Depends on how you look at it."

We walked into the Great Hall to see that there was only a single table set out in the giant room. There was only a single table sitting in the middle of the room, specifically for the people that were going to be there. Harry, Ron, and Hermione weren't there yet, but I assumed that they would be there soon.

"Merry Christmas," Dumbledore smiled at us as we walked closer to the table.

I looked around the table and noticed that most of the seating was for the teachers because of the lack of students that stayed during the holidays. I was pleased Draco hadn't stayed behind this year because I was doing a lot better without him following me around in the corridors which he had started doing just before the break.

"Sit down wherever you like," Dumbledore said.

I looked around the table and saw that there were only two other students there. Both of them were first year students by the looks of them. I walked over to a chair awkwardly and sat down across from Snape and next to Dumbledore who sat at the end of the table.

After a little while, some more teachers came into the room and soon enough, Harry, Ron, and Hermione joined us and sat down in the three empty seats that were next to me.

"Where were you?" Harry asked as he sat in the chair next to me.

"I was just looking at the snow outside," I lied smoothly.

Harry just raised an eyebrow and then turned to talk to Professor Dumbledore who was wishing him a happy Christmas. The meal started soon afterwards and everyone dug in. Halfway through the meal, Dumbledore decided to hand Snape a noisemaker that exploded into a hat with a vulture sitting on top of it, much like the one that Neville's boggart had.

I started to laugh and Snape threw me a look as he handed the hat over to Dumbledore who put it right on his head with a big smile. Professor McGonagall rolled her eyes at the headmaster, but she had an unmistakable grin on her face as she turned back to the plate in front of her.

"Ah, Professor Trelawney," Dumbledore said.

I turned around and noticed the big-eyed teacher walk into the room cautiously, looking around as if she was waiting for someone to jump her or something. She smiled at Dumbledore and walked over to the table slowly.

"What a surprise," he said. "I didn't expect for you to join us."

"Well, I'm afraid that I can't," she said in a hushed tone as her eyes went around the table. "If I join now, they'll will be thirteen people at the table. Never forget that when thirteen dine together, the first to rise will be the first to die!"

"Oh, just sit down Sibyll, I'm sure we'll be fine," McGonagall said sternly.

I had to put my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing. It wasn't hard to tell that the two professors had never really cared for each other. I couldn't really blame McGonagall either, Trelawney was kind of irritating to be around. Even though she claimed to have the Inner Eye, not many at the school really believed that she was telling the truth.

After some hesitation, Professor Trelawney finally lowered herself slowly into a chair. She looked almost ashamed and scared of what she had just done. Her huge eyes quickly went around the table, looking at each and every person there, probably trying to guess who was going to stand up first and die.

"Where is Remus?" she asked in a low whisper.

"He's ill," McGonagall said bluntly. "Surely you should have Seen that Sibyll."

There was a great tension in the air between the two women as they stared each other down, no doubt that McGonagall was more intimidating than the big-eyed Divination teacher.

"Surely you've made the potion for him Severus," Dumbledore asked Snape.

Snape looked up from his meal, which he had hardly touched aside from poking at a few of the items on his plate. He had a blank stare on his face, as he usually did and nodded.

"Professor," I said to Dumbledore. "He's going to be all right, isn't he? I've noticed that he has been sick a lot this year…"

"Professor Lupin should stay in good health under the care of Professor Snape, you have nothing to worry about Miss Potter," he smiled at me.

I nodded slowly and turned back to the plate that I had in front of me. After a little while, we were all finished and Harry and I both stood up to leave at the same time, receiving a shriek from Professor Trelawney.

"Which of you stood up first?" she asked pointing at both of us with wide eyes.

"Honestly Sibyll, does it really make that much of a difference?" McGonagall said. "Haven't you already said the both of them are going to die anyway?"

I laughed when I thought back to her prediction earlier in the year with the Grim. Harry laughed along with me, but Professor Trelawney looked absolutely furious with the comment that her co-worker had made.

Everyone else decided to stand up and go around to talk with the others that they didn't really get a chance to during the meal. Hermione had run over to Professor McGonagall to talk with her as the three of us began to walk out of the room. I was stopped by Snape on my way though who pulled me off to the side to have a word with me.

"Just a moment," he said.

Harry and Ron shrugged their shoulders and continued walking out. Snape reached into his pocket and pulled out something that looked like some kind of jewelry. It was a charm bracelet that had several different objects hanging from it. One of them, I noticed, was the initials L.E.

"This was your mother's," he said. "And I thought that you might want it."

He handed it over to me and I looked through the several charms that it had on it. There was a lion, an owl, a cauldron, a wand, a doe, a snake, and several other tiny charms dangling from it. It was beautiful.

Then something dawned on me. Why did he have something that belonged to my mother? He had told me before that they had known each other, but he acted as though he had hardly known her. Then again, he was acting kind of strange when I told him that I had heard her voice. Maybe there was more there than I had realized. However, I decided it best that I didn't ask, he probably wouldn't be comfortable talking about it.

"Thank you," I smiled. "This means…more than you know."

We stood there for a minute, just looking at the bracelet. Then I did something that probably surprised myself more than it did him. I threw my arms around him and hugged him. As I expected, he didn't really do anything at first. He stood there for a minute, shocked, but then he hesitantly hugged me back. For the first time, I felt a sense of comfort as he held me close to him. It wasn't weird like some people may think. It was more like how I would expect a father would hug his daughter.

When I stepped back, he kind of gave me a weak smile and looked in the other direction quickly. I noticed that Dumbledore was watching us with a smile on his face and was wiping a tear that was falling down his face.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading - I hope that you liked it! I decided that I might respond to the people that commented on the last chapter…<strong>

**The Agent of Fire: I'm glad that you liked it! I know that it probably wasn't expected, but someone gave me the idea and I thought that it might turn out interesting. Thanks for commenting on every chapter, I enjoy hearing your opinion!**

**Luli Cullen: Thanks, I hope that you liked this one. :D**

**EmInsane: As I said before, I got the suggestion to have her know Sirius before I even started writing the story. I thought that it might be interesting to have her know Sirius ahead of time - it'll definitely lead to some drama *hint, hint***

**Cheerfully Blue: Thanks for commenting again! I'm happy to know that you got the point that she kind of always trusts the right people. I've already decided what I'm going to do about Harry finding out that she knows and I hope that you'll like it. :D**

**Olivia Marie 20: Thanks for the suggestions that you gave me earlier by the way! I'm happy to hear that you like the way things are going!**

**AccioWeasley98: I'm happy that you liked it - I hope you like this one too!**

**Strawberryfruitsnaxs: Thank you so much, that really means a lot!**

**Pleaseunderstand: I really am sorry that you are disappointed that he wasn't made godfather. Believe me, I absolutely **_**love**_** Snape's character, but it didn't really seem right. I wanted the two of them to have a really close relationship because they wanted one, not because they had to because of a title - if that makes any sense at all. I do plan on having Snape and Emily closer than Sirius and Emily, if that makes you any happier - it was my original intent anyway. Thank you for making it clear as to what exactly you meant in the last comment and I hope that you do continue reading the story. :)**

**lostfeather: Thanks! I hope that you like this chapter too!**

**Thanks for reading everyone and PLEASE REVIEW!**


	17. Patronus

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 17**

I walked back up to the common room alone. The whole time I walked, I was admiring the bracelet that Snape had given me by looking at each individual charm that was around my wrist. All of them were a silver color, but as soon as you picked one up, it began to fill with color. After I looked through each of them, I decided that there was only one odd one in the mix - the snake. Why would my mother have a snake on her charm bracelet? That was the sign of a Slytherin.

Once I thought more about it, I began to think that it was Snape that had given it to her. It made sense after all. Since he had given it to me, I started to think that maybe my mother might have been friends with him at some point in her life. Why else would he have her charm bracelet?

Maybe that was the reason that he was nice to me and not to Harry - I resembled my mother in a way that Harry did not (aside from his eyes of course). Harry looked like my father, a man that Snape had hated in his years of schooling.

Suddenly I remembered something from my first year. At the end of the year, when Harry and I were laying in the hospital after our first encounter with Voldemort, Dumbledore had said something about Snape: _"Perhaps it is because he doesn't see your father in you, Emily. Perhaps he sees someone else…"_ He was talking about my mother! How did I not catch that?

"Excuse me?" a voice brought me back to reality. "Are you going to give me the password or are you just going to stand there?"

I looked up and noticed that I was standing in front of the portrait of Sir Cadogan, who looked slightly irritated that I wasn't paying attention to where I was.

"Oh, sorry," I said. "'Scurvy cur.'"

The portrait opened and I slowly walked into the room. I went to walk in, but my way was blocked by Professor McGonagall.

"Oh, I'm sorry Professor," I said stepping out of her way.

"It's fine Miss Potter," she said as she stepped out of the portrait.

Then, as she was walking out, I noticed that she was carrying a broomstick. Harry's broomstick to be exact. What was going on? Why was she taking it?

I ran into the common room to see Harry and Ron looking at Hermione furiously. They both looked like they wanted to rip her head off her shoulders.

"What happened?" I asked them. "Why is she taking the Firebolt away?"

"It's all Hermione's fault," Ron growled. "She told McGonagall about the broom and now it has to be inspected."

I looked over at Hermione, who looked as though she was ready to cry. I didn't really understand what made her feel like it had to be inspected.

"Why does it need to be inspected?" I asked.

Ron and Harry looked over at Hermione, apparently not knowing her reasoning either.

"Because…well, we both thought the same thing…" she said. "We thought that it might have been sent to you by Sirius Black."

There was a silence afterwards. Harry and Ron looked at each other and I didn't know what to say. How did she guess that? She was right after all, but what could have given her that idea.

"What does that matter?" I asked her.

"Emily!" she said shocked. "He's trying to kill both of you - this is exactly the kind of thing that he would do - send Harry a jinxed broom so he could get _killed_ during one of the matches."

I opened my mouth to say that he wasn't trying to kill us, then I remembered that I was the only one that knew that and shut my mouth instantly. I probably should have told them by now, but I didn't feel that now would be the greatest of times.

"If it was really him," Ron said. "Wouldn't he have sent something to Emily too. He's trying to kill both of them, remember?"

"Well maybe he's just starting with Harry," Hermione said.

"Emily, please talk some sense into her," Harry said next to me.

I didn't really know what to say. I guess now would be a good time to start to convince them that Sirius was innocent - in this situation anyway. It's probably not the greatest idea to bring up the fact that Sirius is actually completely innocent of everything at the moment.

"Hermione," I said slowly. "Ron's right. If he was really trying to kill us - which I highly doubt - he probably would have sent both of us something, not just Harry."

"Thank you Emily," Ron said glaring at Hermione still.

I couldn't help but feel kind of bad for Hermione. After all, she was just trying to help because she still thinks that Sirius is after us.

* * *

><p>It wasn't long before the rest of the school was back and the term was about to start up again. When they all got here, the common room was filled with people, all of which were talking about everything that happened at their house over the break.<p>

While Oliver talked to Harry about Quidditch and the Firebolt that had gotten taken away, I decided to go and talk to other people. I went over to Neville and Seamus who were both talking about everything that they had gotten during Christmas.

"Hey," I smiled at them as I sat down in a nearby chair. "Thanks for the present Neville."

"Thanks for the Christmas card," he smiled. "Is that a new necklace?"

I nodded as I looked down at the locket. I hadn't gotten a chance to talk to George about it yet, probably because I hadn't actually seen either of the twins yet.

"It's from George, isn't it?" Seamus asked me and I nodded.

Then he looked down at my wrist and saw the bracelet that I was wearing.

"Who's that from?" Neville asked.

"Um, no one," I said quickly.

He raised an eyebrow at me, but didn't really ask anymore about it. That was something that I could appreciate about him. If he knew I didn't want to talk about something, then he never really pressed the matter, he just shrugged it off.

Then I saw two red-headed twins coming in my direction. Right when they saw me, they sat down on either side of me on the couch. George, I noticed, was blushing a little bit and didn't really make eye contact with me.

"So Emily," Fred said. "I see that you're wearing lover-boy's necklace."

George shot him a look and looked completely embarrassed. Fred started laughing and I hit him in the side and smiled at George.

"I love it George," I said as I held on to the locket.

I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. When I leaned back I saw that he was seriously blushing, but he had a big smile on his face. Fred wolf-whistled and I rolled my eyes. He would never leave the two of us alone.

"Get it Weasley!" Dean yelled.

Several people started laughing, including George and me. Lee Jordan came over and started talking to Fred about something when I noticed George staring at the bracelet on my wrist. He picked up my hand and looked at it closely.

"Who is this from?" he asked.

I was happy to see that he didn't sound angry at all, he just sounded like he was genuinely curious.

"It was my mother's," I said, making sure to avoid answering his actual question.

He looked through some of the charms individually and I just kind of watched him. It was kind of funny to see him concentrating on each one them…the look on his face was adorable. He set my hand back down, but he didn't let go of it. When he looked up and saw me looking at him, he gave me a little smile.

Then he started to lean towards me and my brain felt like it just went blank and I couldn't think anymore. His lips were only inches from mine when-

"Hey Emily!"

I didn't know who it was, but I wanted to punch them. George backed away from me, the look on his face suggested that he wanted to punch someone too. I looked up to see Harry walking over to me and George quickly let go of my hand before my brother could see him.

"What?" I asked, sounding a little angrier than intended.

He seemed to notice the irritation in my voice and took a step back.

"Er - I just wanted to tell you that we're going to be starting our private lessons with Lupin soon," he said. "Oliver wants me to know how to defend myself before the next game."

Did he really need to tell me that right then? I guess I was being kind of irritable, so I tried to be nicer.

"When should we start?"

"We just need to look into it before the next game," he said. "I could probably ask Lupin about it tomorrow."

George was called over to talk to Dean and Seamus and then I turned on Harry. I smacked him in the arm, not too hard, but effective enough.

"Hey!" he said. "What was that for?"

"You are such an idiot," I said half-laughing and I walked away from him.

* * *

><p>After lunch the next day, I was stopped by someone who I thought wasn't going to be bothering me anymore. It was Draco Malfoy who decided to confront me by throwing his arm around me while I was walking.<p>

"Really, are we going to do this again?" I muttered as I rolled my eyes.

"I know that you secretly love it," he smiled deviously.

"It's amazing how wrong you are."

"Whatever," he said. "So, is your brother going to have to be rescued from the next Quidditch game or has he actually learned to fly?"

"You'll have to see for yourself."

"Oh, playing like that are we?" he smiled. "How did you know I liked the mysterious type?"

I almost wanted to laugh, but at the same time I wanted to hit him. I threw his arm off of me and kept walking. I turned my head slightly back and saw that he was running up to join me.

"Come on love," he said. "Don't let Weasley stop what we have."

I decided it was time to set something straight. I stopped moving and threw him up against the wall.

"Like it rough love-"

"Shut up," I said. "Let's get something straight - there is absolutely nothing going on between us. There never has and there will never be anything, okay? Remember the past two years, you hated me! Can't we go back to that?"

"Things have changed."

"No, they haven't," I said. "You're the same spoiled little Slytherin that you were last year."

I shoved him back against the wall before I began to walk away, but I was stopped when Draco spoke up again.

"This _is _about Weasley, isn't it?" he snarled. "The one that is so in love with you - you love him, don't you?"

"Maybe I do," I said, surprising myself that I said that out loud. "How is that any concern of yours?"

"He thinks he's winning you, doesn't he?" he said. "I'll have to do something about that."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"Oh, you'll see," he smiled deviously as he walked off in the opposite direction.

I was almost afraid of what he is planning to do, but I shrug it off and move on to class. I have more important things to worry about.

* * *

><p>Harry talked to Lupin about the lessons that he was going to be giving us and it turned out that we were going to be having our first one on the upcoming Thursday. I hadn't spoken to anyone about the incident between Draco and me that happened earlier that week and I didn't really want to.<p>

When this time came around for the lessons, I was rushing to get to the empty History of Magic room where we were having our lesson. I was late because I had been held up by Parvati who wanted to ask me a question about the Potions homework that was due the next day.

"Sorry I'm late," I said as I practically ran into the room.

Harry and Lupin were both standing in front of a fairly large box that was sitting on top of Professor Binn's desk that sat in the front of the room. Lupin smiled at me as I made my way down to them.

"It's fine," he said. "I was just explaining to Harry what exactly I am going to be teaching you."

I looked down at the box and raised an eyebrow. How was that going to help?

"It's a boggart," Lupin said. "We're going to use this for practice because I can't bring a real dementor in here."

"But my boggart isn't a dementor," I said. "How is that going to work for me?"

"I was thinking about that too and maybe we should have you try to practice while the boggart is focused on Harry," he said. "It's going to be difficult, but I think it'll work."

"So, how does this work?" Harry asked.

"Okay," Lupin said. "I'm going to be teaching the two of you something that is called the Patronus Charm. It's a very advanced spell, but I think that we'll be able to do this."

I nodded, trying to imagine what exactly this spell was. Hermione had told me what exactly Lupin had done on the train in the beginning of the year, so I had an idea of what it actually looked like. She went on to tell me, just before the lesson, that each witch or wizard's Patronus is different and takes on different shapes or something like that.

"Now, first thing you have to do is think of a happy memory," he said. "Not just any happy memory, it has to really mean something to you. When you perform the spell, it is essential to be able to concentrate on this memory, concentrate on the emotion that you had during this particular memory. Then you have to say 'Expecto Patronum.'"

I thought back to some of the happiest memories that I've had. He said that it had to be a really powerful one, so I had to be specific. Which one could I use? A few that came to mind was when I first discovered my past and the fact that I wouldn't have to live with the Dursleys anymore. Was that powerful enough though?

"Okay, are you two ready?" he asked.

We both prepared ourselves and he opened up the box that the boggart was in. I concentrated really hard on the memory that I had in mind and both Harry and I said the spell at the same time. It didn't seem to work for Harry though and he fell slowly to the ground. I looked at the dementor, terrified that it was going to do the same to me. When it looked at me though, it never changed shape. This wasn't expected.

"Expecto Patronum!" I said, but I instantly knew that it wasn't going to work.

I heard my mother screaming in my head as I fell to the ground and everything went black. I saw a flash of green light before my eyes flew open and I saw Lupin standing in front of the two of us looking extremely pale.

"I'm sorry," he said. "This was a mistake, I should have had both of you practice before I set the boggart on you."

Harry and I stood up slowly and Lupin handed us some chocolate that he had in his hand. I ate it and suddenly felt warm again.

"Can I ask what your memories were?" he asked.

"My first broom ride," Harry said.

"When we left Privet Drive," I said.

"Maybe those weren't powerful enough," Lupin said. "Try to think of the happiest moment of your life."

I tried to think back. What was the happiest moment of my life? Coming to Hogwarts wasn't enough, but I realized that it wasn't really happiness so much that I felt then, it was relief. Relief that I wasn't going to constantly have to live with Muggles anymore and there was a reason that I was so different.

Then I thought of one just as Lupin got ready to open up the box again.

"Okay," Lupin said. "Ready?"

Harry nodded and I got my wand ready. When Lupin opened up the box, Harry started shouting the spell at it, but was unsuccessful. Within a few moments, he was falling to the floor.

I concentrated on the moment that Snape had given me my mother's bracelet. I was truly happy during that moment. I know it's probably weird, but it really meant a lot to me that I had been given something that belonged to my mother from someone that I looked up to like a father.

"Expecto Patronum!" I yelled at the boggart.

This time I wasn't afraid, I knew that this would work. Amazingly enough, something shot out of the end of my wand. It wasn't the silvery cloud that Hermione had described to me either, it was something entirely different. It was a silver Phoenix. It flew towards the dementor and forced it back into the box. Once the boggart was gone, the Phoenix continued to fly around the room before it vanished.

"Fantastic Emily!" Lupin smiled. "That was amazing!"

Harry started to wake up and looked around the room in a daze. When he looked up and saw me still standing, he quickly rose to his feet and looked around.

"Did you do it?" he asked. "Did it work?"

"Did it work?" Lupin said happily. "It was more than just your average Patronus."

"Why was it a Phoenix?" I asked him.

"That is what is called a corporeal Patronus," Lupin explained. "I'm surprised that you can even do this, not many older witches and wizards can do that themselves. You must have used a very powerful memory. May I ask what it was?"

I nervously took hold of the bracelet that hung from my left wrist and tugged at it. I wasn't really sure that I wanted anyone to know. It was a little personal to be honest.

"You don't have to tell us," Lupin shrugged it off.

Harry looked at me curiously, but eventually shrugged it off once he took some chocolate that Lupin was handing him.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading - I hope that you liked it! Oh my gosh, I can't believe that there are over 100 reviews on this story! I know that probably doesn't seem like much to a lot of people, but it means a lot to me and I hope that you all continue to respond!<strong>

**By the way, 'Princess Twila' made a comment that has got me thinking. Does Emily really have an extremely foul mouth? Looking back, I guess that I did kind of do that. I guess that's just part of myself that I have rubbing of on her character and I wanted to apologize for that because I keep forgetting how old she is. Sorry!**

**Another thing - There is a poll ON MY PROFILE PAGE right now to decide whether or not Emily is going to be in the Triwizard Tournament in the next book. I encourage everyone to go and vote - it'll be up until this book is over. If you choose the option that says that she won't be in the Tournament, it doesn't necessarily mean that she won't be meeting Voldemort when he returns - I'll have to work that out somehow if that's the one that wins.**

**PLEASE REVIEW and GO VOTE!**


	18. Extendable Ears and Malfoy's Move

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 18**

By the time we had finished up our first lesson with Lupin, both Harry and I had been able to produce a patronus - Harry's wasn't corporeal, but it still worked. After the lesson, Harry stayed back and talked to Lupin. I only left because the subject of Sirius Black came up and I kind of felt awkward because I knew the truth and Harry seemed really angry.

I walked alone towards the Gryffindor Tower and ran into Neville who was pleading with Sir Cadogan about something. I had no doubt that it was over the new password that he made and Neville had forgotten it.

"I wrote them down, I swear," Neville begged. "But I lost them-"

"That's likely," Sir Cadogan said. "You're probably another intruder."

"Oh come off it Cadogan," I said loudly as I walked up to the portrait. "You know that it's just Neville."

Neville looked grateful that I had shown up right on time. I wouldn't doubt that he had probably been fighting over this for a long time by now. I told him the password and we walked into the common room.

"Did you say that you wrote down the passwords?" I asked him.

"Yeah, but I can't find the list I made anywhere," he said worriedly.

"You better look for those," I said. "It's probably not good if the rest of the school knows all the passwords to the tower."

He nodded and walked around the room in search for them. When I looked across the room I noticed that Hermione was sitting at a desk that appeared to be filled with all different kinds of books. She looked extremely stressed out.

"You are taking way too many classes," I said looking around the desk.

"Oh, it's not that bad," she said. "Just a lot of extra work…"

She kind of trailed off after that and went back to doing her work. I don't know how she did it. It seemed like she was taking every class that the school had to offer all at once…but of course, that's not possible - there isn't enough time.

In another corner of the room I saw Fred and George who both looked like they were working hard on something. I had extreme doubt that it was anything school related…

"Hey," I said. "What are you doing?"

They looked up at me, just noticing that I was in the room probably. Fred held up a something that appeared to be an ear attached to a long string.

"What is it…?" I asked.

"What is it, she asks," Fred laughed. "This, my dear friend, is what we like to call…well, we haven't really come up with a name for it yet."

"It helps you to eavesdrop of people," George explained. "It's kind of like another ear that you can use and you won't get caught. We haven't perfected it yet, but it's coming along."

"So, it's like an extended ear," I said. "What haven't you perfected about it?"

I sat down at the table next to George as they both went into explaining everything that they had done so far with this "extendable ear" and it's inner workings. It sounded like a brilliant idea, but they did mention that it did have a few flaws about it.

"When they hit the ground, it kind of messes up its signal or something," Fred said.

"Yeah, and if you drop it at all, even if it's lightly, it completely dies," George said.

I thought back to an old charms assignment that we had done a while back and it mentioned something about protecting objects from being damaged. Maybe that could help.

"Could I try something?" I asked them while looking at the ear as it moved around the table.

"Go for it," they said together.

I performed a few spells on it that Flitwick had taught us and then I was finished. I wasn't sure if it had worked, so we decided to test it out. We walked over to the stairs that led to the dormitories and tossed the ear down, without hitting it first. Fred walked down to the bottom of the stairs to be our test subject while George and I stood at the landing on the top of the stairs.

"So, I just put the string up to my ear?" I asked.

"That's right," Fred called up to me.

George and I put the string up to our ears and listened in. Our heads were a little close together and I could definitely smell the familiar smell that lingered around him. I wasn't really sure how to describe it, but it always distracted me.

Then I heard something that sounded like someone whispering that came from the string. I expected to hear this, so it wasn't really a surprise.

"I'm going to throw it against the wall and see if you can still hear me," Fred whispered through the string. "Just call down to me if you hear anything."

George held the sting away from us as Fred threw the ear below against the stairs with great force. Just as he was doing that, Ron walked through the area and raised an eyebrow when he saw Fred throwing an ear on the ground, but he didn't ask any questions. I guess living with them all of his life prepared him to not be surprised at anything that they did. Once he was finished beating up the ear, he held the ear up to his mouth and George brought the string back up to us.

"Can you hear me?" he asked.

"It works!" George said.

Both of them had the biggest smiles on their faces and looked like they were ready to throw a party they were so happy. George threw his arms around me and spun me around for a second. When he put me down, we were both laughing. Somehow, when he was smiling at me, I got this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach like I did the other night when George was about to kiss me. George seemed to have the same feeling and he started to lean down towards me when I heard a yell coming from the other room.

"SCABBERS!" Ron yelled.

Ron came running out of the boy's dormitories and was headed straight for the common room and carrying a sheet along with him. What was his deal?

"Seriously," Fred muttered from the bottom of the stairs. "This is never going to happen if there are all of these interruptions."

"What isn't going to happen?" I asked as I made my way into the common room.

"Forget about it," he mumbled.

Fred, George, and I walked into the common room to find Ron looking absolutely furious and started yelling at Hermione, who looked completely confused. I noticed that Harry had just walked into the room when Ron started yelling.

"LOOK WHAT THAT BLOODY CAT HAS DONE!" Ron yelled and pointed at the sheet. "LOOK WHAT HE'S DONE TO SCABBERS!"

"Ron, what are you talking about-" Hermione asked.

"YOU KNOW _EXACTLY_ WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" he yelled. "YOUR CAT _ATE_ SCABBERS!"

"Where on earth did you get that idea?" Hermione asked.

"LOOK!"

Ron threw the sheet at Hermione and that's when I noticed what was on it. There was blood all over it and then there were some ginger cat hairs all over it. Crookshanks had finally gotten to the rat.

* * *

><p>"I honestly don't see why Ron is so upset about," I said as we walked to the Quidditch field a couple nights later. "He never liked Scabbers anyway, you'd think that he would be thanking Crookshanks."<p>

Harry and I were walking to the field where the Quidditch game was that afternoon. I knew today's match against Ravenclaw was going to be an interesting one because Harry had been talking about all the practice that they had put into it. Apparently Oliver had been freaking out about dementors and whether or not they would come to the game.

"You would think that," Harry said. "Maybe he liked Scabbers more than he put off."

We walked a little further towards the field before we actually started talking about the dementors.

"I really don't think that they are going to come to this one," I told Harry. "They said that Dumbledore was really angry about it last time, so they won't want to risk that again."

"Try convincing Oliver that," Harry laughed. "He won't leave me alone about it - keeps asking if I'm ready."

Once we got to the field, I decided to part towards the stands. That's where I found Ron and Hermione who were sitting a far distance away from each other. Once I got there, they both moved over to sit on the opposite sides of me.

"Think your brother will live through this one Emily?" Draco said as he passed by.

"You're not going to live through this one if you keep it up," I said angrily.

"Potter's a feisty one, isn't she?" another Slytherin said.

I rolled my eyes as they continued to move towards their section of the stands. Once they sat down, I noticed that they kept laughing about something, but I couldn't tell what.

"What are they up to?" I asked.

"I don't know," Ron said.

"You don't _know_ a lot of things," Hermione said loudly.

"You don't know as much as you think you know either," Ron retorted.

"Oh, yeah," Hermione said. "You're-"

"Stop!" I said over them. "Can't you two shut up for two seconds?"

"She started it…" Ron said.

"Well, I'm ending it!" I said. "Just don't talk to one another."

Just then, the players were walking out onto the field to start the game. I spotted Harry immediately with his new broom and I heard a few other people commenting on it behind me. Once the players took off, Lee Jordan started his commentary as usual.

Harry flew through the air with ease on his new broom and I could tell that some of the other players were jealous that he had that particular broom. I saw the Ravenclaw Seeker, Cho Chang, flying all around Harry as if to show off her own broom that was far inferior to his.

Then there was a flash as Cho flew off in another direction towards something. Harry came flying up behind her, but it wasn't long before a bludger, hit by one of the Ravenclaw Beaters came flying towards him.

"HARRY LOOK OUT!" I yelled.

He heard me and quickly dodged the bludger, but it only missed him by an inch or two. They kept flying pointlessly around the arena trying to trick one another, but then I saw Harry go towards what looked to be the real snitch when I saw a small shiny speck in front of him.

"Look!" Hermione said pointing down at the field.

Three dementors were standing down on the field, but there just wasn't something right. Nothing seemed to go cold as it usually did. Even so, Harry had no trouble throwing a Patronus in their direction and soon enough he grabbed the Snitch in front of him.

"GRYFFINDOR WINS!"

The Gryffindors all ran down from the stands and onto the field to congratulate the players on the game. I ran right over to Harry who looked extremely pleased with himself.

"I got the dementors!" he said happily. "Did you see it?"

"I know!" I said happily. "It was fantastic!"

Then I was picked up from behind and spun around.

"We won!" George cheered as he set me down again.

I went to say something, but was stopped when I saw that Lupin had come over to talk to Harry about the dementors.

"They didn't effect me at all," Harry said proudly.

"Well, that's probably because they weren't real," Lupin said angrily. "Follow me."

Harry and I looked at each other, completely confused. Several other Gryffindors followed closely behind to see what exactly was going on. What did Lupin mean that they weren't real? What happened?When we got to the other side of the field, I was furious. Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Marcus Flint were all taking off the black robes that they were wearing - they had pretended to be dementors in attempt to scare Harry. It was ridiculous.

"You've got to be kidding me," George said behind me.

"You guys are pathetic," Fred yelled.

They all stood up, Draco at the front, and looked as angry as we did at them. It really was pathetic that they had gone to such lengths to get Gryffindor to lose.

"No matter, they didn't get what they wanted anyway," I laughed.

"That's right," said Harry. "And they never will."

Several Gryffindors cheered behind me and the Slytherins looked furious, especially Draco.

"Is that right?" Draco sneered. "We never get what we want, we'll see about that Potter."

Suddenly he made a move towards our crowd. No one really knew what he was doing - there was no way he was going to start a fight with so many teachers around. Then I saw that he was coming directly at me and I started to step away.

Then, before anyone could do anything, he pulled me towards him and started to kiss me. His lips felt cold and hard against mine - it was absolutely disgusting and I wanted him to stop. I tried to push him away, but it was to no avail - he was stronger than I was.

Finally, he was thrown off me by someone. He only had a split second to give me a smug look before he was punched directly in the face; he hit the ground with a sickening thud, but wasn't knocked out. He had an extremely bloody nose and looked terrified.

George walked over to where he lay and picked him up slightly to the point the was directly in Draco's face.

"Touch my girl again and it'll be the last thing you do," he said through gritted teeth.

Several teachers were running over towards the two, but they didn't really yell at George. Snape walked over towards Draco once George had backed off and picked him up off the ground, kind of throwing him a little bit backwards.

"You're just going to-" Malfoy said through a bloody nose.

"That's right Mr. Malfoy," Snape said in an angry tone. "Maybe a bloody nose will teach you to keep your hands off of people."

"But-"

"Silence," Snape snarled. "I don't need to hear your filth."

He grabbed Draco by the collar and dragged him in the direction of the castle. There was complete silence for a moment before Gryffindor, along with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, erupted into cheers. Apparently getting Malfoy on the wrong side of Snape was something to celebrate throughout the school.

We all made our way back to the castle, George staying extremely close to me. On our way through the fields, I noticed a particular yellow glow throughout the bushes that belonged to a black dog that was looking in our direction.

Sirius had been there with us the whole time.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I hope that you all liked it and I urge you to tell me what you thought. By the way VOTE ON THE POLL on whether or not you want Emily to participate in the Triwizard Tournament. At the moment, the poll is standing with Emily not participating at 10 and having both Harry and Emily participate at 7. Don't like those results? VOTE - the poll is on my profile page.<strong>

**By the way, the Pheonix Patronus was given as a suggestion from one of you all and I really liked the idea. I know that it was mentioned that it should have been a doe like Lily's, but I didn't want confusion with Snape's.**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	19. The Intruder

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**

**Chapter 19**

When we made it back to the common room, we were all set for a party. Fred ad George had managed to sneak into the kitchen and brought food up to the common room shortly after it started. Everyone seemed to be having a great time except Hermione who was sitting in a corner, her face buried in a book.

"Does she ever give herself a break?" Seamus asked me as he sat down, a goblet of pumpkin juice in his hands.

"I guess she has to stop so she can sleep," I said looking over at her. "Then again, I haven't seen her in the dormitories for a while."

"Maybe she sleeps in in the library," Neville suggested. "It wouldn't surprise me."

I was sitting around the fire with Dean, Seamus and Neville. We were all talking about the game and the possibilities of Gryffindor winning the cup this year.

"Maybe we'll finally show Slytherin that we're better than them," Dean said.

"I don't know," Seamus shrugged. "I'm pretty sure we showed them today - did you see Malfoy's nose?"

"It was definitely broken," I said. "And I'm pretty sure I saw a black eye forming."

"I'm not sure what was better," Dean said. "The fact that he was punched in the face or Snape telling him that he actually deserved it."

"Both," Neville said as he tipped back his goblet. "Did you see how angry he was - I thought he was going to take a swing at Malfoy himself!"

Now that I thought about it, I'd never really seen Snape get that angry - especially with a Slytherin. It wasn't exactly a rare thing to see Snape in a bad mood, but he was angrier than I had _ever_ seen him before.

"I can't believe that he didn't say anything to George," I said.

"I'm not," Seamus laughed.

I raised an eyebrow as if to ask what he was talking about - he got the hint.

"Snape loves you!" Seamus said. "And it's weird because you're a Gryffindor. He normally only likes Slytherins, but I guess he made a special exception for you or something."

"He loves Malfoy too though," I pointed out.

"Yeah, but he likes you more - he showed that today," Dean said. "Look at the way he reacted - if it'd been anyone else then he wouldn't have done the same thing. It's like Neville said, I think he would've hit Malfoy himself if George never did."

I didn't really comment because I knew that they were right. I had been trying to convince myself for a while that Snape really didn't treat me the same as everyone else, but it was a lie - he really does care about me. I knew that it didn't have to do with my performance in his class either - look at Hermione, he hates her for being a know-it-all. I guess it's because of my mother...

I looked around the room as the boys continued to talk about the game. I saw George talking with Harry about the game, judging by the motions that his hands were making. I thought about what he had said earlier to Malfoy about me being "his girl." I hadn't actually talked to him about it yet, but I didn't really know what to say.

Then, just as I noticed how long I had been staring at him, he looked over at me. I quickly looked in another direction to look as though I hadn't been staring, but I knew that I had been caught. I felt my face redden as I noticed him staring and smiling at me in the corner of my eye.

* * *

><p>The party was broken up at around one o'clock in the morning by Professor McGonagall. She yelled at us to go to bed already and we quickly went to sleep withough much of a fight - we were all tired.<p>

When I made it to my bed, I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow. I dreamt that night about various things. Most of them involved either Snape or George and some of the things that had happened earlier that day. They weren't bad dreams really, they were just a jumble of different memories that I had.

Right as I was having a dream about Snape punching Draco in the face, I was woken by a really loud yell that echoed throughout the Gryffindor Tower. I sat up quickly and looked around the room in search of the person that was yelling. I saw Lavender Brown jump out of bed and go outside of the room. Everyone else followed suit and before long, we were all in the third year boys dormatories.

"HE WAS HERE - I SWEAR ON MY LIFE HE WAS!" Ron was yelling.

I pushed myself to the front of the crowd and saw Ron standing in front of his bed, his eyes the size of dinner plates. I noticed that the curtains to his bed were completely torn to pieces.

"Who?" I asked.

"SIRIUS BLACK!" he said loudly. "He had a knife in his hands! He was standing right here - he was trying to kill me!"

"That's ridiculous!" I said. "Sirius would never-"

I stopped myself quickly, realizing what I was saying. Everyone else was under the impression that Sirius Black was a murderer - not the innocent man that I had come to know. I quickly covered myself with another story.

"He would never be able to get into the Tower - it's guarded."

"Emily - I swear that it was him - he was right here!" Ron said.

Then I saw Professor McGongall walking into the room looking angrier than ever. Her hair was a complete mess and she looked like she was ready to rip someone's head off.

"What is going on?" she asked. "I said that you all have to go to bed!"

Percy was the first to say anything - as usual, he thought that he was in charge.

"I was just about to tell them Professor," he said in a professional prat tone. "Ronald here has just had a nightmare-"

"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE!" Ron yelled. "Professor - Sirius Black is in the building and he was just here!"

"How could he have gotten into the Tower?" she asked. "He couldn't have known the password."

"Ask Sir Cadogan!" Lavender Brown spoke up.

We all rushed down to the common room and opened up the portrait to talk to the knight.

"Stand and fight-" he started.

"Oh, shut up!" McGonagall said. "Have you let anyone into the Tower recently?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did," he said proudly.

"What about the password?" she asked worriedly.

"He had them - a week's worth of them actually," he said. "He was reading them off of some paper."

_Oh no_, I thought. I turned around and saw Neville standing a few feet away from him. He had told me earlier that he had lost a list of passwords that he had written down. He was in trouble now.

"Who on _earth_ wrote down the passwords?" McGonagall asked angrily.

Neville slowly rose his hand into the air, shaking from head to toe and looking completely terrified.

* * *

><p>The school was on lockdown.<p>

Yet again, the staff of Hogwarts was out searching for Sirius, but I knew that they wouldn't find him. Sirius only showed himself in human form if I was around and remained a dog the rest of the time. Although they were right that he was in fact on the grounds at Hogwarts, I knew for a fact that he wasn't the one that broke in. There was no way that he would try to kill Ron or anyone else for that matter.

Most of the following day was spent in either the Great Hall or the common room - we weren't allowed to go anywhere else. Ron had become the school celebrity - the one the Sirius was after. Each time he told the story, it became even more ridiculous. I got to a point that I didn't even want to be in the same area because I didn't want to even look at him. I knew for a fact that Ron hadn't actually seen Sirius.

I felt bad for Neville though. People were even meaner to him than they usually were. In fact, at this point, people had even stopped talking to him in general.

"Don't worry about them," I said as I walked over to him, avoiding Ron and his story as I had been all day. "They'll forget about it eventually."

"Well, at least they aren't beating me up like before..." he mumbled.

"Who was beating you up - I want names!" I demanded.

"Don't worry about it - they weren't Gryffindors anyway, so I'm not worrying about it too much," he said in a defeated tone.

Even worse than all of that was when he received a Howler from his grandmother at lunch. She yelled at him for being irresponsible and a complete disappointment to her. It was actually kind of depressing to be honest.

We were also given a letter from Hagrid that asked us to meet him in the Entrance Hall at six to go and have tea with him. I didn't doubt that he wanted to talk to us about what had happened the night before.

"I'll tell him all about it," Ron said proudly.

"Oh, shut it," I snapped.

"What?" he asked looking offended.

"You haven't stopped talking about it and it's getting really old - I've heard about 20 versions of your story in the past two hours!"

"Fine, relax!" he said putting his hands up.

Later that day, after a long time of doing nothing, we finally met up with Hagrid in the Entrance Hall. He walked us down to his hut and started the tea for us.

"Well, I suppose you want to hear all about it," Ron said happily, glancing nervously at me for a moment as I rolled my eyes.

"I've already been told," Hagrid said.

After Ron was put out about that, he spoke all about the trial that was being held for Buckbeak - it was soon and he was nervous about what was going to become of it. Then he lectured Ron about being so mean to Hermione recently and how he needs to knock it off.

The meeting didn't really go on much longer and we were back in the castle.

* * *

><p>On Saturday morning, the school was having another trip to Hogsmeade. Seeing as we couldn't really go, we decided that we would use our dad's cloak and sneak in anyway. On the way there, we were caught by Neville who wasn't going to Hogsmeade either.<p>

"Hi Neville," Harry said, I could hear the slight irritation in his voice.

"Hey," he said happily. "Want to play a game of exploding snap?"

"Oh, I was actually going to write my essay on vampires-" Harry started.

"Great, would you help me with it," Neville asked desperately.

I could already see where this was going. Neville really wanted to be around someone that wasn't completely irritated at him for the whole "Sirius Black" incident and was desperate to do anything to remain with us.

"Harry, you finished yours up yesterday," I said. "I'll help you though."

"Thanks a lot!" Neville smiled.

"Yeah, I'll just go along to-" Harry started.

"Go along where?" a voice came from behind me.

I spun around and saw Snape standing there, looking curiously at us. Why is it that he always lectured me for wandering the hallways, but he constantly did just that.

"To get that book on vampires that I have in the common room," I said.

"Oh, is that so?" he asked. "May I ask why the three of you decided to meet here? It's a rather odd place to meet..."

"It was a coincidence," I said. "We just ran into each other. Why, what were you thinking?"

"Just the same," he said slowly, then went to walk through the hallway. "Move along now. Miss Potter, I ask that you pass my message about wandering the hallways to your brother and Longbottom..."

"Someone needs to practice what they preach," I muttered.

He continued walking, but turned only for a minute. I saw a small smile on his face before he spun around again and kept moving.

"You're a lifesaver," Harry whispered as we ran off towards the tower.

After that, Harry pretended that he had to go to the library for something. He owed me for giving up my trip to Hogsmeade to write an essay...

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I know that it wasn't all that much, but my computer has been acting weird lately. By the way, if I don't have an update in the next couple of days, it's because my internet is acting up. Lately it's been turning on and off and it's getting irritating. I should have one up on Monday if I don't get one up on Sunday.<strong>

**By the way, I love that people are voting on the poll! For those of you that don't know already, the option that says that Emily will not be participating in the Tournament is the one that is winning. If you don't like the results, then I suggest that you go and vote - the poll is up until I'm finished with this story! By the way, I know some people are disappointed about this, but trust me, I'll try to make it interesting as I possibly can and Emily will be meeting Voldemort in the end somehow, it doesn't matter what option that ends up the winner.**

**ATTENTION: ABOUT THE POLL - I added an option to it that says that only Emily should participate in the Tournament. So, if you like this idea better than the other options, VOTE!**

**Again, thanks for reading - tell me what you think and PLEASE REVIEW!**


	20. Bad News for Buckbeak

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 20 **

"Okay, it's as perfect as it's going to get," I said.

I set down my essay for Lupin and watches Neville as he added the last sentence to his own essay. I had already read through his essay once before and made some corrections to it. It actually wasn't a bad paper, so he would probably do well on it.

"Thanks for the help," Neville said. "I really needed it. Where did Harry go off to anyway? I know he wasn't actually going to the library."

"You can't tell anyone if I tell you," I said and looked around the empty common room to make sure no one was there.

"I wouldn't tell," Neville said looking interested.

I told him all about the secret passage that we had been using to get through to Hogsmeade and the map that Fred and George had given us. He didn't really ask that many questions as I told him, but he seemed fascinated that we had managed to find a way through to Hogsmeade.

"Why didn't you two just tell me that?" Neville asked. "I wouldn't have bothered you. Wait - that means I kept you from going...sorry."

"Don't worry about it, it's not that big of a deal," I smiled. "Besides, I needed to get that essay out of the way anyway."

Once we finished up our work, Neville decided to teach me how to play Exploding Snap, a game that I needed to know how to play in his opinion. Just as I was getting the hang of it, someone burst through the common room doors. It was Harry and he nervously looked at the two of us.

"Professor Snape wants to talk to both of you," Harry said in a hallow voice.

Behind Harry, Snape walked in slowly and looked at both of us. I glanced over at Harry and instantly knew what happened. He had been caught on his way out judging by the Zonko's bag that Snape was holding out for evidence. That wasn't the only thing he was holding either - there was also a piece of parchment that I recognized to be the Marauder's Map.

"Outside," Snape ordered Neville and me. "You stay in here Potter."

Harry looked mortified and I knew that I was going to have to think up some kind of story as to what he had been doing. I glanced over at Neville and hoped that be would know to just go along with anything I said.

We stepped out into the hallway and the portrait of the Fat Lady closed. We went only a little further down the hallway before Snape turned on us and began to question both of us.

"Miss Potter, have you been aware of the exact location of your brother for the past few hours?"

"He was in the common room with us," I said. "We were all finishing up our essay for Professor Lupin. Why?"

"May I ask why he strutting around the corridors?" he asked.

"I wouldn't really say that be struts," I comment. "But I believe he wanted to walk around, much like I do as you know very well."

Snape narrowed his eyes and then he turned to Neville who I hoped wouldn't mess up our lie.

"Mr. Longbottom, was Mr. Potter in the tower with you two?" he asked.

"He was helping me with my essay, just like Emily said," he replied confidently.

"Then, Mr. Longbottom, why do you think he was carrying around these objects?"

Snape held up the Zonko's bag and the piece of parchment and looked at Neville questioningly.

"I don't know Professor," he said.

"Nor do I," Snape said in a threatening tone. "Judging by the...insulting messages that I received from this piece of parchment, I would assume that it is also a Zonko's product. How would he come across these objects considering he does not have permission to enter Hogsmeade?"

So he doesn't really know how to work the Marauder's Map. That's a plus.

"Maybe Ron or Hermione gave them to him," I said. "They normally get us something from there because we can't go."

Snape's eyes narrowed. He knew that I was lying, but be couldn't prove anything without evidence.

"Let me make this clear," Snape snarled. "Mr. Potter was spotted in Hogsmeade by Mr. Malfoy only minutes ago. How do explain that?"

"That's impossible," I said. "Harry was with us. Maybe Draco was seeing things, he is rather dimwitted."

Snape had a hint of a smile on his face, but it vanished quickly.

"Well, since these objects are of no real value, I'll just throw them away," he said casually.

I went to say something, but I was saved by Professor Lupin who was coming from around the corner.

"What's going on Severus?" he asked happily.

Despite Lupin's cheerful tone, I could still tell that he was feeling pretty sick. Then again, he always did appear to be pretty ill. Normally at least once a month around the same time. Wait...could he be a...no, it's impossible.

"It appears that Mr. Potter made a trip to Hogsmeade today," Snape said. "Zonko's Joke Shop to be exact."

Lupin's eyes went down to the objects in Snape's hands and took them from his coworker's hands.

"Interesting things they sell there..." Lupin said as he observed the blank map with curiosity. "Do you mind if I take these to my office Severus, just to figure out what it does."

"I could honestly care less what you do with them Lupin," Snape muttered.

I couldn't have been happier when Lupin walked off with the Marauder's Map. The fact that the map was no longer in Snape's possession was a relief. Lupin probably wouldn't think much of it even if he figured out how it worked.

Neville and I started to back away while Snape glared at Lupin as he walked off. We didn't make it far before he turned back and saw us.

"Where do you think you're going?" Snape asked.

We stopped moving as he walked over to where we had moved to - which wasn't really that far away.

"Just tell your brother that if I catch him again, he'll be packing his bags," he said threateningly.

"Sure thing," I smiled innocently.

He rolled his eyes at me and stalked off away from us. As soon as he was out of sight, we ran back into the common room to find Harry standing there looking pale.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"He can't prove anything, so you're fine for now," Neville said.

"What about my things?" Harry asked, only worried about the map.

"Lupin came by and them," I said.

"At least Snape doesn't have it..." he said.

* * *

><p>I was sitting in the Great Hall the next morning when Hoot came down and handed a letter over to me. In very scratchy looking handwriting read:<p>

_Emily_

_Meet me at the Whomping Willow at 8 o'clock tonight - make sure you're not followed._

_X_

I knew already that it was Sirius because he told me that he would never sign his name on any letter that he might send to me.

I made sure to make note of the place before I stuffed the note into my bag before anyone could question what it was.

"Oh no!" Hermione said.

"What happened?" I asked. "It's Hagrid - Buckbeak is going to be executed!"

I glared over at the Slytherin table and saw Malfoy looking happier than ever. It was hard to get too mad at him though because he looked so much like a racoon with the two black eyes that were still on his face.

We didn't get to speak to Hagrid until lunch time when we ran down to his hut before anyone noticed that we were gone. When we got there, he was standing outside of his hut looking sadder than ever.

"Oh Hagrid," Hermione sad sadly. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't ya worry 'bout nothin' Hermione," Hagrid said. "It's not yer fault - it's all mine."

"It's not your fault Hagrid, it's Malfoy's," Harry growled.

"It's no different either way," Hagrid teared up. "There's still the appeal though."

"I'll do everything I can to help," Hermione said.

"I'll help with it Hermione," Ron volunteered.

Hermione started crying and threw her arms around hugged him tightly. Ron looked really surprised, but hugged her back after a second.

"I'm really sorry about Scabbers, Ron," Hermione cried.

"Don't worry about it, he was old anyway," Ron said.

"It's about time..." I muttered.

"You've got that right," Harry laughed.

Finally 8 o'clock came around and I went out to the area around the Whompng Willow. I constantly made sure I wasn't being followed, which would've been a lot easier if I had the Marauder's Map.

When I got there, I saw Sirius come out of the forest as a dog and run over to the tree. I went to follow him, but a branch swung at me and knocked me backwards. It tried to hit me several more times and then stopped abruptly. I looked over at Sirius who had his paw pressed against a knot on the tree.

I walked over him and followed him under a passageway underneath the tree that I'd never seen before. Maybe I'd never seen it because I had always been too focused getting away from the tree to notice anything else about it.

I couldn't stand up through the passageway, so I had to crawl through it. It wasn't a short passage either. On the way there I thought about what Lupin had said about it earlier in the year. It was planted hear the year that he came to the school. Why would anyone want this tree here?

Fred and George also mentioned that this particular tree blocked a passageway that led directly into Hogsmeade. Had they planted it here on purpose to block the passage and only allow anyone who got through this tree through the passage? Maybe it was just a coincidence...

Then we finally got to the end and I was able to stand up. I looked around the room we were in and had a feeling that I knew where we were.

"It's the Shrieking Shack," Sirius said.

I looked back and saw that he was back in human form. He was smiling and looked a little healthier than he had when I had seen him last.

"I never one that there was a passageway there," I said.

"No one does," Sirius said. "I was made for a friend of mine to escape while he was...ill..."

Was he talking about Lupin? I wondered. Even if he was, I wasn't going to ask - it wasn't really any of my business to be honest.

"So you came to the last Quidditch game," I said.

"Yes I did," he smiled. "Harry did beautifully, I see they returned his broom."

"They did as soon as they figured out that it wasn't an attempt to kill him," I said.

"I also saw what happened with you," he said as he leaned against the wall. "A lot of boys are after you, aren't they."

I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Unfortunately," I said.

"Especially that Weasley boy...he seemed to take it really personally when the Malfoy boy made a move."

I had already told him all about Draco hitting on me for the past year and how it made no sense at all because he hated me last year.

"He seems like a good guy Emily," Sirius said suggestively.

"He is..." I smiled.

Sirius smiled at me as we sat down on the floor of the shack. I already knew that Sirius had been keeping a close eye on both Harry and me for a while. I guess that he has been watching George some too.

"I was surprised the most about how Snivellis took it though," Sirius said slowly.

"Who?" I laughed.

"Severus Snape," Sirius practically spat.

"Ah, I forgot that oh hated him," I laughed.

"You don't? I've gathered that most if the students hate him."

"They do," I said. "But I like him - he can be nice when he wants to be."

"Okay, whatever you say Lily," he said while poking me in the side.

That confirmed everything had been thinking about with the relationship between my mother and Snape. She had defended him so they had to have been friends.

After that we just talked about everyday things - I did most of the talking considering that Sirius didn't really have much going on in his life of hiding. Then I decided that it would best I'd I returned to the castle before I was missed.

* * *

><p>The next day Hagrid wasn't any happier during Care of Magical Creatures than he had been the day before. As usual, we were tending to the flobberworms. Harry and Ron were finished early so they went over and tried to comfort him while Hermione and I finished ours up.<p>

I heard Malfoy's little group start laughing and both Hermione and I turned to see what they were up to. Malfoy was looking directly at Hagrid and was mocking him for being so upset.

"Have you ever seen someone so pathetic and he's suppose to be a teacher!" Draco laughed.

Hermione dropped everything she was holding and stomping over to Malfoy. Right when she got over there, they were still laughing. They all went silent when Hermione slapped Malfoy directly in the face.

"Hermione!" I shouted.

Draco stumbled back a few feet. I ran over just as Draco pulled out his wand and had a twisted look on his face.

"You filthy Mudblood!" Draco yelled. "You'll pay for that-"

"Expelliarmus!" I said pointing my wand at him.

His wand flew through the air and I caught it with my left hand. Now that he was disarmed, he didn't really look so confident about his threat.

"Give me my wand back love," Draco said.

"You have a lot of nerve," I snarled and pointed my wand directly at his chest.

"You couldn't harm me if you wanted to," Draco laughed. "Just like Granger couldn't just now."

"Oh yeah?" Hermione laughed.

"That's right Mudbl-"

He didn't finish his remark before Hermione punched him directly in he nose that had only just healed from the break that it received not long ago from George. The blood came flying out of it and Malfoy and his gang ran away from us and right back into the castle.

"That felt good," Hermione smiled.

I laughed as we turned around to see the rest of the class looking at Hermione with a bewildered expression.

"Impressive," Ron nodded in approval.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I hope that you all liked the chapter! PLEASE REVIEW and remember to VOTE!<strong>


	21. It's About Time

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 21**

After our lesson at Hagrid's, we had Charm's class where Professor Flitwick taught us all about Cheering Charms. I knew that I could go for one because Malfoy got me angry with his continuous flirtatious comments towards me. However, right when I turned around, she was nowhere to be seen.

"Ron, where's Hermione?" I asked him as we sat down in our seats, him sitting in the desk in front of me and next to Harry.

"I don't know," he said while looking around.

"Wasn't she just with us?" Harry asked.

I shrugged, but assumed that she would show up momentarily. I was wrong though, she never did show up. The seat to my immediate left where she usually sat remained empty throughout the entire class period. I patterned up with Neville who sat to my right and practiced my Cheering Charms with him. By the end of class the entire class, including me, was smiling from ear to ear about nothing in particular.

We walked to lunch without seeing Hermione there the whole time. I was starting to wonder if she had gotten sick or something - she never misses class for anything though. While doing a search of the Great Hall for her, I hardly noticed the looks Ron, Harry, and I were getting until I sat down.

"Well don't you three look happy," Fred laughed at us.

"Cheering Charms?" George asked knowingly.

"Unfortunately," I said, still wearing the obnoxious grin on my face that refused to go away.

Towards the end of lunch, we decided to check the Gryffindor common room to see if Hermione was there. By the time we made it there, the charm wore off and our faces were back to normal.

Sure enough, Hermione was there. She was sitting at her usual desk and was completely surrounded by an enormous pile of work. However, her head was laying down on the paper and she was fast asleep.

"Hermione?" Ron asked while nudging her arm.

"Oh - hello," she woke up and glanced sleepily at all of us.

"Where were you in Charms today?" Harry asked.

She sat upright quickly and looked over at a clock that was set up nearby. She stood up when she saw the time and looked completely panicked.

"How could I have forgotten about Charms!" she said.

"How could you forget a class Hermione?" I laughed. "Do you really have that many?"

She completely ignored my question and started going through some papers on the desk and organized them into neat piles frantically.

"Was Professor Flitwick angry with me?" she asked.

"No," Ron said. "I think he'll forgive you, you're the best in the class after all."

She blushed as she threw some books into her bag and picked it up. We started walking out of the common room and up towards the Divination room together in a hurry to make sure we weren't late for the lesson.

When we got there, the crowd of students were still waiting for the ladder to be thrown down. As soon as we stopped, it was thrown and we began to climb it.

I was surprised to see that on each table there was a single crystal ball that sat in the middle.

"I thought we were still in palmistry," Neville said as he sat down at our table.

"I'm not complaining," I said. "I hated that unit..."

Neville nodded in agreement just as Professor Trelawney walked out towards us to start the lesson. She gave us the instructions on just how to gaze properly into the crystal ball, most of which I wasn't paying attention to, then let us actually do it ourselves.

"See anything?" I asked.

We both squinted into the crystal ball and I tried my best to make out some kind of shape, but I didn't really see anything.

"Well...maybe there is something there - wait, no..." he said.

"Maybe we won't be able to see in the future..." I said staring into the crystal ball intently.

"That or it's going to be really foggy tonight," Ron said at the table next to me.

Several people laughed, but Professor Trelawney didn't find it funny at all. She ran over to their table and took a look at the crystal ball in every different angle possible.

"5 Sickles that she finds the Grim," I whispered to Neville.

"You're on," he laughed.

Her eyes became really wide and she moved closer towards it.

"Could that be the Grim!" she shouted.

I smiled as Neville handed over the Sickles. I would probably end up giving it all back anyway, but bets always make things interesting.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Hermione said loudly.

Professor Trelawney glared over at Hermione with a look of complete and utter annoyance and hatred. It had been no secret that from the beginning of the semester that these two really detested one another, so I guess their stare down wasn't really much of a surprise.

"I am sorry to say that from the moment you came here, I could tell that you didn't possess the inner eye. I guess that the problem for you is that you can't learn this out of a book, so you really have no talent in this matter."

The whole class was still for a moment, eyes flickering between Hermione and our teacher, both of them looking evilly at one another and not dropping their gaze.

"Fine," Hermione said as she stood up. "I don't need this class anyway. After all, how can anyone expect to learn anything from an old fraud."

Several mouths dropped as the usually well mannered student stomped out of the classroom and slid down the ladder. Everyone remained silent for a moment longer when the bell rang for the classes to be dismissed.

"I cannot believe that she did that!" Neville said as we stepped off the ladder. "She never disrespects a teacher!"

* * *

><p>It wasn't long afterwards that everyone's enjoyment of the year began to fade away as the exams came closer to us. We were all stressed and hardly anyone had any time for anything else but studying. It was hard to believe that it was actually the Easter holiday - it hardly seemed like a break with all of this work.<p>

"This is ridiculous!" I said as I slammed down my history book. "Why do we need to know this stuff!"

"Because it is essential that we know the past of our-" Hermione started.

"Hermione, that was a rhetorical question," I said.

I picked up my Charms notes and started looking over them. I could hardly concentrate though because I was too busy thinking about everything else that I needed to memorize before the upcoming exams. I had studied far to long and needed to get away, so I decided that I might go visit Sirius.

While no one was paying attention, I slipped out from the room and went down towards the Entrance Hall and out to the Whomping Willow. I did a spell to pick up a twig to hit the knot that calmed the tree down and within a few minutes, I was inside of the Shrieking Shack. When I got there, Sirius was fast asleep.

I looked around quietly throughout his room and I noticed something that I didn't expect to see in here. It was Crookshanks. What was that cat doing in _here_? Did Sirius know about him being there? I shrugged it off and looked around at some of the newspapers that were thrown carelessly throughout the room. There was one in particular that caught my eye. It was hung up on the wall next to a window - it was the picture of Ron and his family on their trip to Egypt. What was that doing there? I started to move in closer to look at it, but something jumped up behind me.

"Emily!"

I screamed and jumped to the side, pulling my wand out and thrusting it in the direction of the person that was behind me. I performed the first spell that came to my mind - Expelliarmus - and the man flew backwards and hit the ground.

"It's just me!" he yelled before I threw another spell at him.

It was Sirius and he was holding his arms up, eyes wide, and preparing for me to attack again.

"Oh, I'm sorry…" I mumbled.

I walked over and helped him up. He looked at me strangely and but shrugged it off.

"I didn't expect you here," he said.

"I had to get away - the exams are coming up and I think my brains are about to explode," I explained.

"Ah, I remember those days," he sighed. "Though, I remember them quite differently…in fact, I don't really remember studying at all…I think I mostly just goofing off with your father."

I laughed and started picking up some of the mess that he had lying around the room. I guess that it kind of bothered me that he had all of this stuff just thrown about.

"What's Crookshanks doing here?" I asked.

"He just found me on the grounds a little while back," Sirius said. "He's rather helpful, that one…"

Once I was finished picking up, we sat around a good while talking about some of the things that Sirius and my father did when they were younger. Apparently they had pulled a lot of pranks in their days, much like Fred and George would. I didn't realize just how long that I'd been there until I saw the sun setting through the window.

"Oh my gosh," I jumped up. "I need to get going!"

I said my goodbyes to Sirius and ran out of the shack and through the tunnel. I got back to Hogwarts before the sun set completely, but I knew that I was going to run into some kind of trouble. How was I going to explain my long absence to everyone?

I ran through the courtyard and only slowed down my pace when I made it into the Entrance Hall again. I went to turn the corner, but ran directly into someone. I started to fall backwards, but my arms were grabbed and I steadied myself.

"Sorry about that - oh, hey!" George said with a smile.

"Oh, it's you," I said. "What are you doing out here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he said. "You've been missing for a few hours now, I've been looking all over the place for you."

"I was just outside," I lied. "I needed some fresh air…wait, why were you looking for me?"

"Oh, um, well - you see," he stuttered, his face starting to go a little pink. "I was just wondering where you ran off to…"

I nodded and smiled at him. He is so adorable when he blushes…actually, he's always adorable in a way…

We started walking together towards the Gryffindor common room for the night. I knew it was still kind of early, but I did need to get a little more studying in for history - my all time worst subject.

"So, the big game is tomorrow," I said.

"Yeah," he sighed. "I kind of wish we could just get it over with - Oliver won't shut up about it."

"Does he ever shut up about Quidditch?" I laughed.

"Good point…" George laughed. "That's really all he talks about. I mean, Quidditch is great and all, but it's not my life. It's his though - that's all he thinks about. Don't get me wrong though - I really want to win tomorrow."

We walked on for a while before we ran into anyone. That person happened to be Oliver himself. He practically jumped all over George at the sight of him.

"Where have you been?" Oliver demanded. "I requested a team meeting and you were nowhere to be found."

"When did you become my wife?" George retorted. "I was-"

"It doesn't matter - you need to go to bed, everyone needs plenty of rest before the game!"

I raised my eyebrow. It wasn't exactly rare to see Oliver flip out over a Quidditch game, but this was more than I had ever seen him do. He was practically twitching with anticipation and looked like he would snap if anyone spoke another word to him. I now completely understood what George was talking about.

* * *

><p>The next day during breakfast, the whole Quidditch team was just as bad as Oliver had been. They were all silent and nervous about the game and I guess I could understand why. The Gryffindor team hadn't won anything in a while and this game meant a lot to them - and it was against Slytherin.<p>

When we all made it to the field, everyone in the stands was going insane. People had put together several banners, posters, and other types of things in support of the team that they wanted to win - most of which was the Gryffindor team. People were cheering all kinds of different chants and the stadium went wild when the teams entered the stadium and the game began.

"GO GRYFFIDOR!"

"SLYTHERIN-"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

This was probably one of the most violent games that I had ever seen at Hogwarts. Several players from both teams continuously gained penalties for hitting one another on purpose. I was hoping to see Malfoy's nose broken again, but I hadn't gotten any luck.

It was about halfway through the game when I noticed a pair of animals standing in the shadows of the entrance of the stadium - it was a ginger cat and a big, black dog. Sirius and Crookshanks had decided to come to watch the game. I wonder if he was enjoying himself - I know he didn't get out much.

"Emily - he's after the Snitch!" Ron said as he shook my arm.

"Stop that," I said as I whacked him in his arm.

I'm not sure if he stopped because he heard me, or because everyone decided to stand up to get a better look. I watched as Harry and Draco flew after a golden speck in front of them. Harry was reaching out his arm, when he was suddenly thrown backwards. It was Malfoy.

"YOU CHEATER!" I yelled.

I wasn't the only one either. There was a complete uproar amongst the stands. Everyone, aside from the Slytherins, was furious with Malfoy and were all yelling some pretty nasty things about him.

Unfortunately, it seemed that both Harry and Malfoy had lost sight of the Snitch. Everyone sat back down in disappointment. When I sat back down, I looked to my left to see an empty chair.

"Where's Hermione?" I asked Neville who had been sitting on the other side of her.

"I don't know," he said. "Was she ever here?"

"Yeah, she was just there…"

I looked around for a minute before I decided that she must have gone to the restroom or something. It was odd, but I felt as though Hermione had been disappearing a lot lately. Maybe it was just my imagination…

"HE'S FOUND IT AGAIN!" Lee Jordan yelled. "THEY'RE AFTER THE SNITCH!"

My eyes flew back over to the game and I saw both Harry and Malfoy moving forward once more. Draco was far behind Harry and the Firebolt. Everyone in the crowd stood up once again and we were all cheering, urging my brother on. Harry stopped suddenly for a moment and everyone went silent.

Then, he held up the Snitch in the air and the crowd exploded.

"THEY WON!" I yelled. "WE DID IT!"

"GRYFFINDOR HAS WON THE QUIDDITCH CUP!" Lee Jordan yelled over the screaming crowd.

We all ran onto the field and the first person I ran into was Harry. I jumped towards him and pulled him into a hug.

"YOU DID IT!" I yelled over the crowd.

I hadn't seen Harry that happy in a long time. Oliver, who was only feet away, burst into tears as the Quidditch Cup was handed over to him. I half expected him to fall to the ground in tears, but he didn't.

I felt deaf from the roar of the crowd that hadn't stopped since the Snitch had been caught. I looked to my right and saw George coming up towards me. I was shocked when he picked me and spun me around in excitement, laughing happily the whole time.

Just before he set me down, I threw my arms around his neck and did something that I hardly expected myself to do. I kissed him for the first time. In that moment, which probably lasted only a few seconds, my mind went completely blank and the only thing that registered was the softness of his lips and his arms around me.

When we finally separated, all I could do was smile like an idiot - this was something that I had waited for a long time. His arms remained around me even through the wolf-whistling that was happening all around us. I only laughed because I didn't really care and I knew that George didn't either.

I looked over and saw Harry looking over at me. He gave me a single shrug before he continued to celebrate with the rest of the team. To my left, I saw Fred and caught his eye for a moment.

"It's about time," he said.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading - I hope that you liked it! I'm really sorry that I didn't put up a chapter yesterday. I had a lot of work to do and I really didn't have <strong>_**any**_** time at all to do this. I hope that you all can forgive me! So, tell me what you think and don't forget to VOTE!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	22. Something About Snape

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 22**

After the game, I never really got a chance to speak to George about what had happened. We'd seen each other occasionally around the school and smiled as we passed each other, but we never had time to stop and talk. Everyone was completely focused on the upcoming exams and teachers were cramming us with homework to help us review for what was going to be on it.

Not only was my time being taken up with all of my own studying, but I also had to help a ton of people with Potions - you would think I was the best in the school judging by the amount of people that were coming up to me. The person that was really bothering me the most was Neville, who stopped me whenever he saw me to ask a quick question.

This was the final day that we had before the exams started, and everyone had taken that opportunity to have their noses buried in some textbook or a pile of notes.

"That's it," I said slamming a book down. "I can't take it any longer!"

I had studied literally all day long and my brain felt like it was going to explode. I had to get away from all of it, so I decided that I might go to pay a visit to Sirius since I hadn't gotten a chance to speak to him for about a week.

Everyone in the room was so focused on their studies, that they hardly even noticed me leaving the room. I swept through the hallways in a hurry, checking every corner to make sure that I wasn't being followed. Just when I was about to step out into the courtyard, I heard a footstep behind me.

"Going somewhere?"

I stopped in my tracks and looked over my shoulders. Just as I expected, it was Snape. I should have known that I was going to be running into him soon - it had been too long. He stepped carefully towards me with a single eyebrow raised.

"I just needed some fresh air," I said.

"Then why is it that you've been looking around each corner that you've passed by," he asked. "It almost seems like you don't want to be followed."

How long had he been watching me? I knew that he had actually caught me in the act, but there was absolutely no way that he knew that I was going to meet Sirius. According to everyone in the wizarding world, the man was out to kill Harry and me - why would anyone suspect that I was meeting with him.

"I was making sure that Neville wasn't following me," I lied smoothly. "He's been bothering me constantly about the potions exam."

I almost felt bad about lying to him, but there was no way that I could tell him the truth. Snape usually did understand me, but I couldn't imagine that he would this time. After all, Snape had hated Sirius in his years of schooling and I couldn't really blame him either - my father and Sirius had been terrible to him.

"I imagine that you are more than ready to take that exam," he said casually, accepting my lie completely.

"I believe so…" I said.

Snape nodded and started to walk forward and into the courtyard. Since I knew that there was no way that I would be able to meet up with Sirius today, I decided to walk with him outside.

We walked around the grounds for a little while before anything was said. I was focused on something far in the distance, something that I assumed to be the dementors when Snape started talking.

"I noticed that Mr. Weasley finally decided to make a move the other day," Snape said.

It took me a minute to register what exactly he was saying, but when I did, I started to blush. I refused to look him in the eye and I just nodded and smiled.

"It's about time…" he said slowly.

"You sound like Fred," I laughed.

He gave me a small smile and continued to walk a little while in silence.

"So, I imagine the two of you are…dating now?" he asked hesitantly as if he didn't think that it was really his business.

That was something that I had been thinking a lot about lately. Were we considered a pair? He didn't really ask and I wasn't really sure if I was supposed to or not.

"I don't think so…" I said. "I mean, he didn't really ask or anything…so, I'm not really sure."

He nodded slowly and appeared to be thinking hard about something. As we walked a little further on, I started wondering something: Had Snape ever been in love? I couldn't really see the miserable man beside me in that light. I mean, he was a really good guy when he wanted to be, he just seemed crushed.

"What?" Snape asked.

I then noticed that I had actually been staring at Snape for a moment. It wasn't really intentional, I was just trying to imagine him as a happy man that was in love or something…I couldn't really see it…

"Nothing," I said looking down.

"I can read you like a book Emily," Snape muttered. "The question is practically written all over your face…"

I assumed that he was talking about the original question that I had been thinking - not the one about my mother. Had he ever loved anyone?

"So…do I really need to ask?" I said.

"Not necessarily," he said.

It took a minute for him to actually continue. He looked as though he was considering even answering my unasked question, but he did.

"Yes, I did love someone…" he said in an unnatural voice. "It was a long time ago…"

He didn't really look like he wanted to talk about it, but I kept talking anyway. I figured if I had gotten that much out of him that I might be able to get him to talk a little bit more about it.

"What happened?" I asked.

He took a pause and looked slightly strangled, this was a sore subject.

"She found someone else…" he said quietly. "Had a couple of children…"

"I'm sorry…" I said.

He looked like he wanted to continue, but he didn't.

"Do you…still think about her?" I asked hesitantly.

"All the time," he said in a choked breath.

I didn't make him continue, it actually was really depressing to see him this vulnerable. I looked up at him and he was staring at the ground, he refused to look at me.

The rest of the walk was taken in silence. All I could think about how sorry I was that Snape had a chance with someone, but it was taken away. Then a thought struck me.

_She found someone else, had a couple of children._

Could it be that…no, that is impossible, how could I even consider that? The horror of it was that it sort of fit. According to Sirius, Snape didn't have many friends throughout his schooling, but I knew that he had been friends with my mother. Snape also hated my father for some odd reason and there was no way that it was simply because he was more "popular" than him.

Did Snape hate my father so much because he had taken Lily away from him?

I looked down at my wrist and went through the charms on my bracelet. As soon as I found the snake one, I glanced up at Snape with wonder. I didn't want to believe that, but was it true?

Then something else dawned on me. Throughout the years I've been at Hogwarts, I noticed something about Snape. Literally every time he had seen me, there was always this weird, subtle flinch that he had. Did that happen because I reminded him of the love of his life - my mother?

* * *

><p>The next day, all thoughts of Snape, my mother, and George had to be pushed aside. It was time for the exams and everyone was stressing out. We got our exam schedules first thing in the morning. The first one that I was going to have was Potions - something I was completely unconcerned about, but everyone else was freaking out over.<p>

"What did you get?" I asked Hermione as I picked up her schedule.

_Monday -_

_9 o'clock, Arithmancy _

_9 o'clock, Transfiguration _

_Lunch _

_1 o'clock, Charms _

_1 o'clock, Ancient Runes _

"Um…Hermione," I said. "How is this possible - you must have gotten something wrong because-"

When she noticed that I was reading her schedule, she snatched it right out of my hands.

"Don't worry about it," she said quickly as she ran off with all of her stuff.

"What was that about?" Ron asked.

"You tell me," I muttered.

The Potions exam was easier than I could have expected. We had to brew a Confusing Concoction in the time given to us and I finished it up without making a single mistake. When Snape came over to grade my Potion, he nodded in approval as he wrote something down on his notes.

Neville, who was sitting beside me, looked extremely nervous and Snape rolled his eyes as he scribbled down something for him. I could only hope that it wasn't a complete disaster.

At midnight, we went to the Astronomy Tower to look at some stars, I assumed that I did fairly well considering that I had never really had any problems in the subject. Wednesday, however, was a completely different story: History of Magic - my worst subject. I felt that I at least passed the exam, but I wasn't really sure if I had done all that well. On Wednesday afternoon, we had the Herbology exam. It wouldn't have been that bad if it wasn't so hot, but all in all I felt I did fairly well.

Our second to last exam was in Defense Against the Dark Arts. It was an obstacle course outside of the castle, where you had to wade across a deep pool containing a grindylow, cross a series of potholes full of Red Caps, squish their way across a patch of marsh while ignoring misleading directions from a hinkypunk, then climb into an old trunk and battle with a new boggart.

The exam was probably the easiest one that I had to take outside of Potions and I felt that I did really well on it. I was proud to say that I had gotten through the boggart without any problems. Hermione, on the other hand, couldn't say the same.

"It was Professor McGonagall," she sobbed.

"What?" I asked, completely confused.

"S-she said that I had failed _everything_!"

Professor Lupin managed to calm her down before she went off into hysterics, but she did seem a bit traumatized by the whole thing afterwards. This didn't stop Ron from laughing though.

"I told you that was what it was going to be, remember?" Ron laughed.

I punched him in the side to shut him up, which worked quite effectively. He didn't have time to say anything back because someone pulled me off to the side.

"Hey!"

It was George and he was smiling in that way that always reminded me that he was adorable.

"Hey," I smiled awkwardly.

I didn't really know what to say.

"I was just wondering," he said. "If you would…er…tell me how your exams went…"

It was extremely obvious that he was going to ask me something else, but I just shrugged it off. Maybe it was just an awkward subject…

Not that far behind him, I saw Fred standing there. It was weird because there was something sticking out of his ear…it was a piece of string…wait a second. I looked down and saw an ear just lying in between our feet and I shot a look over at Fred.

I picked up the ear and said, "Fred…STOP LISTENING!" I screamed.

Fred yanked the string out of his ear and started rubbing his ear and threw me a bunch of dirty looks. I guess that he forgot that I had helped a little bit with the making of the Extendable Ear…

George started laughing when he caught sight of his brother and rolled his eyes.

"That's what he gets," he laughed.

"Yeah," I said.

"So," George said. "I was wondering if-"

"EMILY!" Harry yelled over to me.

Seriously, I was going to kill him. Did he really have to be such a cockblock? Not that I even have a-never mind…it's an expression…

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all running over to me.

"What?" I asked.

"They're going to kill Buckbeak tonight - they aren't having an appeal," Hermione said.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading - yes, I realize that I stopped in a completely random spot, I just felt like stopping there…<strong>

**Anyway - I'm sorry that this isn't the best chapter, but I was feeling really out of it today for some reason and I can't really say that I'm all that proud of how this chapter turned out and I seriously considered not even publishing this one... Please, tell me what you think of it and try not to be too harsh…I'll try to do better with the next chapter.**

**PLEASE REVIEW and remember to VOTE!**


	23. Harry Finds Out My Secret

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 23**

Apparently while I was talking to George, the others had run into Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, who told them that they would be executing Buckbeak soon. Hermione, being extraordinarily upset, assumed that they would not be having an appeal, which wasn't actually correct. They were going to be having an appeal, but it was very obvious that the appeal was going to be pointless and Buckbeak was going to be killed.

Unfortunately, we didn't actually get to speak to Hagrid that night because we were all getting ready for our final exam that was coming up that afternoon - Divination in our case. I can't say that I was really looking forward to it at all considering I always thought of the subject as a bit of a joke. I would have walked out of it when Hermione did, but I couldn't leave Neville in there alone.

"I'll probably just tell her that I see the Grim or something," I said as we walked towards Professor Trelawney's room. "No doubt that is what she's going to see anyway."

"Yeah," Harry laughed. "I'll probably do that too - make sure to act all horrified to make it believable."

When we got towards the room, there were several seats filled with people. What was going on?

"She's going to give us our test separately," Neville told us.

I sat down next to him and Harry and Ron sat next to me. I checked the clock that was hanging up nearby and I knew that it was nearly time for Buckbeak's appeal. Ron had already told me that the Minister had brought along an executioner, so it's no doubt that they aren't really going to give him a chance at living. I guess that the Malfoy's had a bit more power in the Ministry than I thought…that our they had managed to black mail everyone…

"Emily, have you actually ever seen anything in the crystal ball?" Neville asked me nervously.

"Nothing other than fog," I said. "Just tell her that you see yourself having some sort of accident in the future like, I don't know, tell her that you see yourself breaking an arm or something."

"Yeah, that's a good idea," he said with a little bit more hope. "That is actually very likely to happen…"

Before long, all of the people in front of me had been called into the room for their exam. When Neville came out of the room, Ron's name was called before mine and I was told that I was going to be next. When Ron walked out, he rolled his eyes and said that she was crazy and walked off to the common room. Next, she called my name.

I walked behind the curtain and saw Professor Trelawney sitting on one end of a table that had a crystal ball sitting on it. When I sat down, she gave me a smile and looked down at the orb.

"Now, all you have to do is tell me what you see," she said in a misty voice.

"Okay," I said looking carefully into the crystal ball.

I stared closely at the fog, and surprisingly I could actually see something. It was a dog, a familiar one, and it was dragging someone down into what looked like the Whomping Willow. There were three other people there. It was Harry, Hermione, and me. And Ron was being dragged by…Sirius. What is going on? I knew exactly what I was seeing, but there was no way that I could explain this to Professor Trelawney.

"I see…the Grim…it's pulling people away…" I said quietly. "It's trying to kill someone…"

"Very good, perhaps that could be…your brother?" she asked.

"Yes, that's probably Harry," I said, knowing that it was actually Ron.

"Very good my dear," she said happily. "Have you ever considered becoming a Seer yourself."

"Um…not really…" I said.

She nodded and smiled as she wrote down something on her notes. I took that as my cue to leave, but just as I was about to step out of the door, I felt her hand grab hold of my arm tightly.

"What-?"

"_It will happen tonight_," she said in an odd tone.

I looked at my teacher and she looked different than I had ever seen her. Her body had gone rigid and her eyes looked clouded as she gripped my arm and would not let me move anywhere.

"W-what will happen?" I asked her nervously.

"_The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight…the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever he was. Tonight…before midnight…the servant…will set out…to rejoin…his master._"

I stood there, horrified of the words that were coming out of my teacher's mouth. A second after she stopped talking, her head rolled back and she released my arm. When she looked back at me, her eyes were no longer clouded and she looked like she had before.

"I'm sorry my dear, I must have been sleep walking," she smiled.

My mouth dropped open. Did she not just hear what she said? Was she completely delusional?

"But, you just said that the Dark Lord would…return tonight…" I said.

"I guess the fumes are getting to your head too - off you go!" she smiled.

Did she really not know what she said? Could she have really made an actual prediction? I guess I would have to figure it out…When I stepped around the corner, I saw Harry standing there, looking absolutely horrified. He had heard everything that she said.

"Did she just…?" Harry asked weakly. "Did you hear her?"

"Do you know what it means?" I asked him hurriedly.

He didn't get a chance to answer me though, because his name was called and Professor Trelawney came over to escort him back to her room for the exam. I guess that I would have to talk to him about it once he had finished. I sat down in one of the chairs nearby and waited for him to finish. It wasn't too long afterwards that Harry came running out.

"Oh, you waited," he said as he came to an abrupt stop.

I stood up and we walked together to the common room, both trying to figure out what Trelawney must have meant with her prediction.

"I can't imagine who she could be talking about," I said in wonder. "What servant of Voldemort's is coming back?"

"You can't be serious Emily," Harry said. "He's been in _chains_ for _twelve years_! She's talking about Sirius Black - he's going to find Voldemort _tonight_ and he's going to help him come back!"

"But Sirius isn't-" I started regretfully.

"Sirius isn't what?" Harry asked as we began to approach the Fat Lady.

"He isn't…er…never mind…" I said quickly.

The Fat Lady opened her portrait and right when we entered the room, we were practically tackled by Ron and Hermione.

"Buckbeak lost," Ron said. "He sent this letter."

He handed us the letter and I quickly read through it.

_Lost appeal. They're going to execute at sunset. Nothing you can do. Don't come down. I don't want you to see it. _

_Hagrid _

"We have to go," Harry said.

"How are we going to do that?" I asked. "We're not allowed on the grounds and we don't have the Invisibility Cloak since you lost it by the one eyed witch."

"How is it that you open the witch's hump again?" Hermione asked.

"You just tap it and say 'Dissendium,'" I said. "Why, you can't-"

I didn't get to finish though because Hermione was already out of the door. We didn't see her for another fifteen minutes or so and when she returned, she was holding the cloak by her side.

"What has gotten in to you lately?" Ron asked sounding amused. "You're just a regular rule breaker now."

"Why thank you Ronald," she smiled.

After dinner that evening, we didn't return to the Gryffindor Tower. Instead, we threw the cloak over all four of us and started to walk down towards Hagrid's house. We had to walk very close together to make sure that our feet wouldn't show and in doing so, we had to walk rather slowly.

On the way there, we only saw a couple of people. The first was Snape. However, we were lucky because not a single person tripped and we managed to make it by him without him suspecting a thing.

When I saw him though, it got me thinking back to my last conversation with him. Was he in love with my mother? I wouldn't dare ask him in fear that I was wrong, but I had to wonder. Of course, I hadn't mentioned any of this to another soul and I would _never _say anything about it to Harry. I could only imagine what he would think of that.

The next person that I saw was Professor Lupin. He was looking rather sick once again and that also got me thinking. What was this illness that he had? I had already made some guesses, but I could never imagine that they were true. Of course, one of my guesses fit rather well with his situation. Every month on one particular day, he would always be missing in class. This particular day had always landed on a full moon according to my Astronomy charts. Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe not…though it was rather odd that the first lesson that Snape taught us when he substituted us for Lupin was about werewolves…maybe that was just another coincidence…

Finally, we managed to make it to Hagrid's hut. When he answered the door after we had knocked, he looked horrified and opened the door slowly.

"It's just us," I said to him under the invisibility cloak.

"Yeh shouldn't be here," he said as we walked in.

Once we were in the hut, we threw off the Invisibility Cloak. Hagrid looked almost as sick as Lupin, but this seemed to be sickness with stress. He was pathetic to look at and it was almost worse that he wasn't crying, he just seemed lost.

"Do yeh want any tea?" Hagrid asked in a hallow voice.

"Let me get it for you Hagrid," I said sympathetically.

I walked over to the stove and picked up the kettle that was already hot. I walked over to the cabinet to get some mugs to put the tea in.

"How's Buckbeak, Hagrid?" Hermione asked.

"He's f-fine," Hagrid said as he took a seat in one of his chairs. "I-I took him outside…thought he should get some fresh air before…well, you know…"

I started to get another milk jug, but jumped backwards in shock of what I saw. Inside of a nearby cabinet, I saw a huge rat just lying there.

"Ron - it's Scabbers!" I said pointing at the rat.

"What?" Ron said as he jumped up to come see.

In between two mugs inside of Hagrid's cabinet lied an extremely skinny and scared looking rat. Although he looked pretty bad, it was obvious that it was Scabbers. As soon as Ron saw his pet, he grabbed for it immediately. Once Scabbers was in his hands, I noticed how much the rat was struggling to escape.

"It's okay, there's nothing here to hurt you," Ron said to his rat.

I felt someone pulling on the left sleeve of my coat and I turned to see Harry staring out of the window of the hut. Coming down from the castle was Dumbledore, Fudge, and the executioner, whom I was told was Macnair, an old friend of Lucius Malfoy.

"They're coming," Harry told the others.

"Yeh need ter get goin,'" Hagrid said. "They can't see ya here."

Ron stuffed Scabbers into his pocket and we exited through the back door of the hut. We all walked over towards the pumpkin patch behind some nearby trees where we could see Buckbeak for a minute.

"Go now!" Hagrid said. "I don't want yer to see it."

Hermione threw the Invisibility Cloak over us all and we walked around the house. Before too long, we heard several men talking in Hagrid's pumpkin patch and we knew that Buckbeak was seconds away from death. Then, with a quiet, sickening crunch, I knew that Buckbeak was gone.

"I can't believe that they did it," Hermione cried.

"We have to go back," Harry said and started to run off.

I quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him back under the Invisibility Cloak.

"Harry, we can't," I said. "It'll only get Hagrid in trouble…"

He nodded miserably, but understood that we couldn't be seen by the Ministry people. There is no way that it would look good that we came down to see him on this particular day. We turned to keep walking and remained silent until we made it to the castle and the sun had gone down.

"Scabbers stay still!" Ron said loudly.

"Ron, shut up!" I said elbowing him. "The Minister could be coming and he could hear you!"

"He just won't sit still," Ron said as he struggled to keep his rat under control. "Crookshanks go away!"

I turned and saw the ginger cat getting closer towards Ron and Scabbers. The rat struggled to much to get out of Ron's grip. Then, all of a sudden, the rat's teeth closed down onto one of Ron's fingers.

"OUCH!" Ron yelled and released Scabbers.

Scabbers jumped from Ron's hands and was running as fast as it could to get away from Crookshanks.

"Crookshanks - no!" Hermione said.

Ron ran quickly to try to catch the rat before Crookshanks got a hold of him. He made it to the rat just in time to get the cat away. Once he had him in his hands, he quickly stuffed the rat securely into his pocket and tried to shoo the cat away.

"Ron, we need to get under the cloak," Hermione said in a panicked tone. "What if the Minister and Dumbledore see us!"

Ron started to walk towards us when I noticed something else. There was a huge dog walking over towards us. It was Sirius. What was he doing? Did he _want_ to get seen? Beside me, I saw Harry go to yank out his wand, but I was shocked to see Sirius jump on Harry and knock him down. Then, in one swift movement, he grabbed onto Ron's ankle and started to drag him away.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I shrieked.

Very quickly, Sirius managed to drag Ron away towards the Whomping Willow. What was he doing? Why was he dragging Ron under the tree? What was going on? I jumped out from underneath the Invisibility Cloak and started running after them.

"Emily, NO!" Hermione yelled.

I didn't listen to her though, the only thing I had on my mind was my own pure confusion. What was Sirius trying to do? Why was he dragging Ron? By the time I caught up, they had already made it underneath the Whomping Willow and were going through the tunnel. The only thing that I could here was the sounds of Ron's yelling and screaming.

Finally, when we made it out into the Shrieking Shack, Sirius let go of him and ran off towards the side. I ran over towards Ron and made sure that his ankle was okay, then I turned on Sirius, who remained in dog form for a minute.

"WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU?" I yelled at him as he cowered in fear.

"Don't yell at it!" Ron said as he clutched onto his ankle. "It'll attack you too!"

"If he attacks me then I'll kill him!" I said throwing a death glare over at Sirius.

"Wait…" Ron said looking between Sirius and me. "What's going on?"

Then, Sirius did the unthinkable. He started to transform back into his human self right in front of Ron. Once he was human again, Ron's jaw dropped and he hurriedly crawled backwards as much as he could.

"EMILY!" Ron yelled. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

He grabbed for his wand, but Sirius snatched it out of his hands before he could actually do anything. Ron looked absolutely horrified and kept trying to get as far away as possible. Then I heard someone coming in through the tunnel. I had no doubt that it was Harry and Hermione who had finally managed to get through the Whomping Willow's branches.

"Where's the dog?" Harry asked looking around the room.

"He's not a dog," Ron said quickly. "He's an Animagus - it's a trap!"

"W-what?" Hermione said behind Harry.

"It's Sirius Black!" Ron yelled and pointed at Sirius who was standing in the shadows.

"Emily, get away from him!" Harry yelled and pulled out his wand.

"Expelliarmus," Sirius as he pointed Ron's wand towards Harry.

Harry looked stunned and ran towards me to pull me away from Sirius. I knew it didn't really matter where I was standing, so I didn't really put up much fight.

"I knew that you would come if I took one of your friends," he said hoarsely. "Your father was the same way - always looking after all of us...I'm glad that you didn't go get a teacher…that makes this a lot easier than I thought it would be."

So, I guess that was what his plan was. He wanted to talk to Harry and probably didn't think that he would get any better chance than right now. Then Harry went charging at Sirius and threw a punch in his direction, but missed.

"Harry, STOP!" I yelled.

Harry went charging after Sirius again, but this time I jumped in between the two of them and made sure that Harry couldn't get around me.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Harry yelled.

"I SAID TO STOP!" I yelled.

"EMILY!" Harry yelled. "THIS IS THE MAN THAT KILLED OUR PARENTS! DID YOU FORGET THAT?"

"You HAVE to listen Harry, just listen to him," I begged him. "Let him explain, you've got it all wrong."

Harry looked mortified that I wasn't taking his side, but he would understand if he would actually listen to what Sirius was saying. Ron and Hermione both looked dumbfounded as they looked between Harry, Sirius, and me.

"What do you mean that I have it all wrong?" Harry said angrily.

"Sirius has already explained everything to me-"

"_What_?" Harry asked sounding choked. "What do you mean that he's _already explained everything to you_? What is going on? What haven't you been telling us?"

"Harry, I was going to tell you, but I knew that you weren't going to listen to me. It's really difficult."

"It doesn't seem very difficult at all," Harry snarled. "You teamed up with the murderous traitor. Don't you realize what he's doing? He's _lying to you Emily_!"

"No he isn't Harry!" I said. "I know that he isn't - he's innocent! I've been meeting with him since the beginning of the year - he's really a good person, you have to believe me."

That didn't seem to make it any better though. Actually, it made it a whole lot worse. The news that I had been meeting with him for a long time seemed to anger Harry more than anything.

"WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN TELLING MY SISTER YOU TWISTED BASTARD?" Harry roared. "ARE YOU TRYING TO GET TO HER LIKE YOU GOT TO OUR PARENTS?"

Then he charged at Sirius again and within a second, they were both wrestling on the floor.

"STOP IT!" I yelled as I tried to break them apart.

Then Harry stood up and in his hands he held his own wand that he had gotten back from Sirius. He pointed it directly at his chest as he lay on the floor, completely powerless.

"Going to kill me Harry?" Sirius asked.

"You killed my parents, why shouldn't I?"

"I don't deny that I killed them…" he said hopelessly. "But, you must understand, if you only knew the full story-"

"I already know enough," Harry snarled.

Then I heard footsteps coming up from the floor below. Who was there?

"WE'RE UP HERE!" Hermione yelled. "IT'S SIRIUS BLACK - QUICK!"

In the next few seconds, we all sat there in silence. Then the door burst open and I saw Lupin coming into the room. He took a moment to look around before he waved his wand.

"Expelliarmus!" he yelled and all of our wands flew from our hands.

I couldn't move. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. How was I going to save Sirius from this one? I was the only one in the room that actually knew that he was innocent and now he was going to be killed because everyone refused to believe that he was telling the truth.

This sucks.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading - I hope that you like it! Sorry that I kind of cut that scene short, but I'll definitely continue it into the next chapter. Tell me what you think so far!<strong>

**PLEASE REVIEW and VOTE!**


	24. We've Got Some Explaining to Do

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 24**

I looked around the room and saw everyone just staring at Lupin in silence. What was going to happen now?

"Where is he Sirius?" Lupin asked.

Wait…what? Where was who? What was going on? I looked over at Sirius and he was pointing directly at Ron.

"Why hasn't he shown himself?" Lupin asked Sirius. "Unless it was him all along…you switched without telling me…didn't you?"

Then he lowered his wand and helped Sirius up. That's when I realized that Lupin knew too. He knew that he was innocent.

"WHAT?" Hermione yelled. "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"

I looked over at her and she looked furious.

"Hermione, you must understand-" Lupin pleaded.

"I've been covering up for you!" she shrieked. "I knew all along!"

"Knew what?" Ron asked, still on the floor with his messed up ankle.

"Lupin is a werewolf…" I whispered.

Everyone went quiet and Hermione looked shocked that she wasn't the only one that had figured it out. Apparently I had been right though, otherwise Lupin would have denied it.

"That's right," Hermione said. "And he wants you all dead too - he's been helping Sirius all this time!"

"No he hasn't," I said with a half-laugh. "He didn't trust Sirius anymore than you all did…well, until now that is."

Lupin looked over at me with confusion.

"She's been helping me out for a while Remus," Sirius explained. "I've already told her my story - she knows that I'm innocent."

"That's only because you BRAINWASHED her!" Harry yelled.

"I'M NOT BRAINWASHED!" I yelled back.

"YES YOU ARE!" Harry said. "He's only trying to get you to believe he's innocent because that way it will be easier to _kill you_!"

"If he wanted to kill me, he would have already done it!" I yelled. "Don't you _realize_ how many opportunities that he's had? I've been meeting with him since the beginning of the year - he could have killed me at any given moment."

"Not if he wanted to kill us both at once," Harry snarled. "I cannot _believe_ you! Why are you so naïve?"

"That is enough!" Lupin said. "We have things to do - right now!"

Harry and I stopped arguing and turned to Lupin. Harry pointed his wand at Sirius and Lupin threateningly. He wasn't going to give them a chance to talk at all.

"You're just as bad as her," Harry snarled and pointed at me. "Teaming up with the enemy - you all disgust me."

I have to admit, it kind of hurt seeing Harry so against me. Don't get me wrong, we've definitely had our disagreements, but I never expected him to turn on me as if I was Voldemort himself. If he would only listen, then he could understand.

"Fine," Lupin said. "Here, take this."

He threw his wand and the one that Sirius was holding towards Harry and Hermione picked them up.

"Now will you listen?" Lupin asked. "We're unarmed."

"Not completely," he said glaring over at me.

I threw my wand directly at his face and walked over to where Sirius and Lupin were standing. I almost wanted to cry, but I wouldn't let myself. How could Harry look at me like that - like I was the enemy! It was as if he had forgotten who I was.

"So, if you weren't helping him all this time," Harry said angrily to Lupin. "How did you know that he was here? Lucky guess?"

Lupin pulled something out of his pocket that was oddly familiar.

"I used the map," Lupin said.

"How did you know how to work it?" Harry asked.

"I helped write it," Lupin said simply. "I'm Moony, well, that was the nickname that my friends called me at school."

"Wait, you wrote it?" I asked bewildered.

"That's not important," Lupin shrugged it off. "I was watching the map closely tonight because I knew that the four of you would go to Hagrid's before that hippogriff was killed."

He started pacing the floor in front of us and looked as though he was thinking hard about what he was saying. That or he simply just had a lot of things on his mind.

"I watched you go off to Hagrid's and twenty minutes later you left. But this time, you brought someone else with you."

"No we didn't," Harry said. "You're insane-"

"I thought so too, but the map never lies!" Lupin continued. "Then I saw Sirius collide with you all and saw him dragging the two of you-"

"ONE!" Ron yelled in defense.

"-underneath the Whomping Willow," he continued as if he hadn't heard. "It was at that moment that I knew that Sirius was innocent - he had to be!"

Then something dawned on me. When we went to Hagrid's, we did find something there - Scabbers. But, what did that rat have to do with anything? Then I remembered the first conversation that I had with Sirius. He had said that someone was at the school, someone that proved that he was innocent.

"Would you mind giving that rat to me for a moment?" Lupin asked Ron.

"W-what?" Ron asked sounding confused. "What does Scabbers have to do with anything?"

"That's not Scabbers," I said suddenly.

Everyone looked at me. Ron, Hermione, and Harry all looked as though they thought I was crazier than Professor Trelawney, but Sirius and Lupin just smiled at me.

"Tell them who it is Emily," Lupin smiled.

"Emily, what are you talking about?" Ron asked. "You know that this is Scabbers - you were the one that found him!"

"I thought that he was only Scabbers then," I said. "But I was wrong. That's not even a rat."

"Have you gone completely bonkers?" Ron asked. "Scabbers is definitely a rat."

"No he isn't," I said. "He's an Animagus."

"That's right," Sirius laughed. "He's an Animagus! And he's been hiding for twelve years!"

Harry pointed his wand at Sirius again and silenced him.

"Who are you talking about Emily?" Harry asked me as he glared at Sirius. "If this isn't Scabbers, then who is it?"

"It's Peter Pettigrew," I said simply.

Everyone went silent. Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared at me in disbelief and shock.

"Peter Pettigrew is dead!" Harry said. "He killed him twelve years ago!"

"I meant to - but he got away!" Sirius said angrily. "But he's not going to do that this time!"

Suddenly, Sirius jumped up and ran at Ron in attempt to get a hold of the rat that was kept in his pocket. Both Lupin and me jumped after him and tried to pull him away.

"SIRIUS STOP!" I yelled at him.

I guess that my yelling had an effect on him, because he backed off as soon as I said that. He looked at me apologetically and stood at the opposite end of the room.

"You have to tell them," I said to Sirius. "They have to know everything before you do anything."

"She's right Sirius," Lupin said. "They have a right to know."

"Fine," Sirius said. "Just make sure that Peter doesn't get away…"

"He's not PETER!" Ron yelled. "He's SCABBERS!"

"Just _listen_ Ron!" I yelled at him.

Ron shut up and just backed up against a wall, keeping a tight grip on the rat in his hands. It continued to struggle to get out of his hands at Professor Lupin started explaining everything.

"Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter that night," Lupin said. "I even thought that he did - but I knew that I was wrong tonight. I saw his name on the map and the map never lies Harry, you must know that."

Then Hermione finally spoke up after her long silence.

"He can't be an Animagus…it's impossible…you have to register with the Ministry."

"Why would he register as an Animagus if he didn't want to get caught?" I asked her.

"Not everyone registers Hermione," Lupin said. "Even though you're supposed to, some don't. For example, in my day at Hogwarts, there were three unregistered Animagi."

I knew exactly who he was talking about too. It was obvious, wasn't it? It was my father, Sirius, and Peter. Lupin wouldn't have to become a Animagi considering the fact that he was a werewolf, he had enough things to deal with.

"It all starts with me becoming a werewolf," Lupin said. "As you all know, this place that we are in is called the Shrieking Shack-"

"Because it's haunted…" Ron said looking around the room.

"No, it was never haunted," Lupin said. "All the screaming and howls in this building came from me. Anyway, back to the beginning. When I was first bitten as a young boy, there was no cure - the one that Professor Snape has been making only allows me to keep my mind during transformation - so, in those days, there was nothing we could do. I told you a while ago that the Whomping Willow was planted the year I came to Hogwarts. The truth is that it was planted because I came to Hogwarts. This house and the tunnel that leads to it - they were built for my use. Once a month, I was taken out of the castle, into this place, to transform. The tree was placed at the tunnel mouth to stop anyone coming across me while I was dangerous."

That explained a lot about the blocked passageway that led out of Hogwarts. Fred and George had told us when we received the map that the passage had been blocked by the Whomping Willow - now I understand why…

"While I was a werewolf, Sirius, Peter, and James would turn into an animal and they were able to stay around me in that form during our years at school. It was a lot easier on me having people with me. But, after a while we began to become reckless and we would often leave the Shrieking Shack and roam around the school grounds and the town. I did feel terrible about it afterwards because I had betrayed Dumbledore's trust…now, all this year, I have been battling with myself, wondering whether I should tell Dumbledore that Sirius was an Animagus. I couldn't bring myself to do it though…I guess that Snape was right all along…I am quite the coward…"

"Snape?" Sirius snarled. "What does he have to do with anything?"

"He's here Sirius-"

"I already know that Remus," Sirius said. "He's constantly around - always around the corner whenever I tried to get Emily's attention."

"Well, he's been trying to get me fired all year," Lupin said. "Says that I can't be trusted…I guess that it does make sense, he never did like me…you see, Sirius played a trick on him while we were at school and he thought that I was involved…it nearly killed him…Sirius thought it would be…funny, to tell Snape all he had to do was prod the knot on the tree trunk with a long stick, and he'd be able to get in after me. Well, of course, Snape tried it - if he'd got as far as this house, he'd have met a fully grown werewolf - but your father, who'd heard what Sirius had done, went after Snape and pulled him back, at great risk to his life... Snape glimpsed me, though, at the end of the tunnel. He was forbidden by Dumbledore to tell anybody, but from that time on he knew what I was..."

"Serves him right," Sirius said. "All he did was follow us around, trying to get us expelled…nosy little-"

"Sirius stop!" I said hitting him in the arm. "He had every right to suspect you, you _were_ breaking the rules."

"Whose side are you on?" Sirius accused.

"This doesn't have to do with sides," I retorted. "This has to do with you being a complete jerk to someone who didn't deserve it!"

"You're just like Lily - I swear!" Sirius said while rolling his eyes. "Always defending the little prat."

I glared at him as Harry began to speak up for the first time in a little while.

"So, that's why he hates you so much - he thought that you were in on the joke?"

"Exactly," a cold voice said from the door.

I spun over and saw Snape standing at the door, taking off the Invisibility Cloak, and pointing his wand directly at Sirius and Lupin.

"Now, look what we have here," Snape said looking around. "It appears that I was right all along - I knew that you would come running back to help your old friend Remus, I did try to tell Dumbledore so many times. Imagine his disappointment when he sees what has happened here."

Everyone stood silently, unable to move. All that was going through my mind was the fact that Snape would make sure that Sirius was killed or would receive the Dementor's Kiss. What was I going to do?

"Emily, I ask that you please step aside," Snape said to me.

I shook my head and stepped in front of both Lupin and Sirius, knowing that this was going to be difficult. As it was well known, Snape and I have always gotten along and I've grown to even think of him as a sort of father figure. It was hard because Sirius and I have become close over the past year too and now I was going to have to defend him against someone that I probably cared more about.

"What are you doing?" Snape asked.

"You can't do this," I said quietly. "Please, you have to understand…they're innocent…"

"Please, don't make this difficult…" Snape said quietly.

Then Hermione stepped into it and tried to reason with Snape. That was a mistake..

"Please Professor, you have to listen-"

"For once in your life can you _hold your tongue_!" Snape yelled at her.

Hermione went silent and stepped back over to where Harry and Ron were. Then Snape turned back to me and had a look of pain on his face. I knew that this was difficult for him too, but I couldn't let him do this. I couldn't let him murder someone else - for both his own sake and Sirius's.

"Emily, please," Snape begged. "You must understand…"

"Wait a second," Sirius said behind me. "What's going on here? You can't tell me that he actually cares about you Emily-"

"Shut up Sirius," I snapped at him, but he ignored me.

"I hate to break it to you Snivellus, but little Emily Potter here has been helping me all year behind your back," Sirius taunted. "Hurts doesn't it - I guess she's more like her mother than I thought, choosing my side over yours-"

"SIRIUS!" I yelled.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked completely confused, not really understanding what was going on. Snape, on the other hand, looked as though he had just been punched in the face. If I didn't think that he was going to kill Sirius, I probably would have let him punch Sirius at least once for that heartless comment.

"I've had enough," Snape said. "Move aside now Emily, or you're going to force me to do something that I regret."

"Severus please," I begged, practically to the point of tears. "You have to listen-"

"I've heard enough," he said sounding betrayed and refusing to look me in the eyes.

Snape grabbed my arm and pulled me away from Lupin and Sirius. Then he performed a spell that threw ropes around Lupin and Sirius.

My mind was swimming. I didn't know what to do and I could hardly think about anything than the hurt look on Snape's face when he found out that I had been helping Sirius all along. I could have cried, but I wouldn't allow myself to.

Then Harry did something unexpectedly. He stepped in front of the door and wouldn't allow Snape to leave with the two other men.

"Get out of the way Potter," Snape snarled.

"Professor Lupin could have killed me about a hundred times this year," Harry said. "I've been alone with him loads of times, having defense lessons against the dementors. If he was helping Black, why didn't he just finish me off then? And Emily has been around Sirius all year - alone. Why wouldn't he kill her then - no one would have known where she was."

"Don't ask me to think like that of a murderer and a werewolf-GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

Then Harry pulled out his wand before Snape could make a move. Quicker than I have ever seen him perform a spell, Harry waved his wand.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" Harry shouted.

Snape flew through the air and hit the side of the wall with a sickening thud. When he landed on the floor, I could see blood oozing from his head.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I yelled.

I ran over to Snape to see if he was okay. I checked his pulse frantically and could feel his heart beating through his wrist.

"Emily, honestly, whose side are you on?" Sirius rolled his eyes.

I threw him a glare that shut him up instantly.

"Harry, you shouldn't have done that…" Lupin said looking over at Snape's unconscious body.

"That doesn't mean that I believe you," Harry said.

After that, Sirius and Lupin went to explaining all about how they had discovered that Peter was with Ron and was going to go to Hogwarts. During all of this, I was only half listening. I was too busy performing spells on Snape that would heal the wound hat he had on his head. What I had gathered was that Sirius had seen the picture of Ron's family and Egypt and recognized him instantly. He also took note of the missing toe that the rat had - much like the one that Peter was missing.

After that, Sirius explained what he had explained to me so long ago - how our parents had been killed and that it was actually Peter that had been the Secret-Keeper that had turned in our parents.

"There's only one way to prove this," Lupin said once Sirius was finished. "Give me the rat Ron."

"What are you going to do-""I'm going to make him change so that you can see for yourselves."

At this point, Scabbers - really Peter - was wiggling around in Ron's hands frantically. He was trying to escape. Then, all at once, Sirius and Lupin pointed their wands at Scabber and the rat began to grow.

When the transformation was complete, in front of us stood a short, balding man that really did have the appearance of a mousy looking man. His small, beady eyes were darting all over the place, mostly in the direction of the door.

"Why, hello Peter," Lupin said casually.

"Remus…Sirius…my old friends," he said in a squeaky voice.

I rolled my eyes at the ignorance of the man. It was almost pathetic to watch as he tried to act as though nothing was wrong in this scenario - he was trying to play dumb.

"We were just talking about you Peter," Lupin said casually. "You know, about your involvement on the night of Lily and James murder."

Peter's eyes grew wide and he scanned the room quickly as though he was trying to find the best area to escape through. He was unlucky though, we had the area surrounded.

"Remus, you don't really believe him, do you?" Peter squeaked. "He tried to kill me-"

"Yes, about that," Lupin said. "I wish to clear a few things up-"

"He's going to try to kill me again," Peter cried. "He's going to kill me like he killed Lily and James!"

"No one is going to kill you before we've sorted out some things," Lupin said.

"Sorted what out?" Peter said frantically.

"You were the one that turned James and Lily into Voldemort - weren't you Peter?" Sirius said threateningly.

There was a pause and Pettigrew's eyes got really big and they started to water. He went to run away in my direction, going to grab for me to stop them from doing anything, but he wasn't fast enough. I already had my wand out and had it pointed directly at his chest.

"Please, have mercy!" he begged and cried.

Then he ran over to me and sat down at my feet.

"Please, you sweet, sweet girl," he cried. "You look just like your mother - absolutely beautiful - and I know that you are so much like her - she would never let them hurt me-"

"Don't you _dare_ talk about Lily in front of her!" Sirius yelled as he kicked Peter aside.

Then he ran over to Harry and went to grab him, but Harry pushed him off and looked at him with complete disgust.

"How do I know that you aren't lying?" Harry asked Sirius as he stepped away from Pettigrew. "He's been around us for years - why wouldn't he have just killed me then?"

"Thank you Harry," Peter sobbed. "I would never hurt you!"

"He never did anything for anyone unless he could see what was in it for him!" Sirius said. "Voldemort's been in hiding for fifteen years, they say he's half dead. Peter wasn't about to commit murder right under Dumbledore's nose, for a wizard who'd lost all of his power!"

"Harry, you have to believe him," I said pleadingly. "Sirius didn't kill our parents - it was him!"

I pointed at Pettigrew and he burst into tears. Harry looked up at me and for the first time since we entered the Shrieking Shack, he didn't look hostile. Slowly, he started to nod his head. He finally understood.

Then, suddenly, Pettigrew began to sob like an infant child. It was pathetic to watch and I tried my best to not look at him.

"Admit it Peter," Sirius said. "You turned in the Potters to Voldemort - didn't you?"

"I was scared Sirius," Pettigrew sobbed. "You don't know what the Dark Lord is like - I'm not brave like you two! He was going to k-kill me!"

"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" Sirius yelled. "YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED INSTEAD OF BETRAYING YOUR FRIENDS!"

Peter was now sobbing worse than before and I knew that we were finished now. He had finally admitted to it, so there was no denying that this was the man that killed my parents.

"You should have known that we were going to kill you if Voldemort didn't," Lupin said.

They both pointed their wands at the man, but before he could do anything, both Harry and myself simultaneously stepped in front of the weeping man.

"Harry - Emily - what are you doing?" Lupin asked.

"We can't let you kill him," I said to them both. "I can't let you two become murderers - don't sink to this man's level."

"But…what-?" Sirius asked.

"We'll take him up to the castle," Harry said. "The dementors can deal with him there."

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I hope that you liked this chapter! Sorry if that was kind of another cliffhanger - I'm really bad about those...<strong>

**PLEASE REVIEW and remember to VOTE!**


	25. They've Got the Wrong Man

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 25**

We put a wrap around Ron's leg so that he would be able to walk back to the castle and we made an agreement that if Pettigrew tried to escape that Lupin and Sirius would be allowed to kill him. There was only one problem.

"What are we going to do about Snape?" Ron asked as he looked at his body on the ground.

"We'll come back for him later…" Sirius said. "I'm sure that he won't mind…"

Although I felt bad about just leaving him there, I knew that there really wasn't much point of dragging him along with us. I'm sure that we would be able to make it back to him after we proved that Sirius is innocent.

Lupin and Ron both dragged Pettigrew out of the tunnel together while Harry, Sirius, and I walked together behind them. We had a lot of talking to do.

"You know what this means Sirius," I smiled at him. "Once we turn in Pettigrew, you're a free man."

Sirius had a huge smile on his face as he looked at the two of us. Although I had seen this man happy in the past year that I had known him, he had never looked happier than this. I guess the thought of being a free man after all of this time had that kind of effect.

"I was thinking…" Sirius said as we walked further on. "Maybe…the two of you could…you know…come live with me…I mean, I am your godfather…unless of course you want to stay with your aunt and uncle…"

Harry and I looked at each other, both of us a look of disbelief and excitement.

"Are you serious?" I asked him excitedly. "No pun intended…"

"Of course," Sirius laughed. "Only if you want to though-"

"We don't want to live with the Dursleys-" Harry said.

"Do you have a house-?"I said.

"When can we move in?" we both asked simultaneously.

Sirius started to laugh and I could tell that he was the happiest that he had been in about twelve years. I couldn't imagine being hunted by dementors and running from the Ministry could really allow you to really be happy.

Once we were out of the tunnel, I noticed how late it had gotten. The sky was completely dark, but it was filled with so many stars and the full moon shined brightly. Wait a second - the full moon.

"Professor Lupin!" I shouted and pointed at the full moon.

"I didn't take my potion tonight," he said with wide eyes.

Then, all of a sudden, his entire body began to shake as he stared up at the full moon that lit up the sky. I knew that whatever was about to happen was going to be really bad and we had to get out of the area as soon as possible.

"Everyone get away from here," Sirius said in a low voice. "Now - RUN!"

No one ran though. Each one of us was transfixed on what was happening right in front of us. Sirius ran over towards Lupin and tried to restrain him and attempted to talk to him so he could keep his sanity a little longer, but it didn't work…at all.

Then I turned to see that Pettigrew had managed to get a hold on Lupin's wand that had already dropped from its owner's hands.

"Expelliarmus!" I yelled.

It was too late though - he had already transformed and was now running off quickly into the distance. I went to run after him, but Harry stopped me and shook his head. He was right - it was too late and their was nothing that we could do. After all, what were the odds that we would be able to find a rat in the forest?

As we watched Lupin, his entire body started to lengthen and his shoulders hunched over and hair was sprouting out all over his body. When Lupin stood upright, Sirius was thrown far off to the side and out of sight. Before long, he had finished his transformation and there was a fully grown werewolf standing in front of us all.

Slowly, we all started to walk backwards quietly so the werewolf wouldn't notice us, but it looked up slowly at us and started to whine. Hermione, trying to be the brave, sensible one, decided to take the initiative to see if Lupin was at all sane and she stepped forward slightly.

"P-professor Lupin?" she asked with a shaky voice.

"Hermione, get back," I said under my breath so that she could here me.

Then, suddenly, Lupin made a loud howl into the sky and began to move towards us. Ron grabbed Hermione's arm and pulled her back so that she was with us. Soon enough, both Ron and Harry were standing in front of both Hermione and me in attempt to protect us.

Even though I was largely distracted by the fact that there was a huge werewolf in front of me, I heard footsteps coming from behind us and they were moving pretty fast. Next thing I know, Snape is standing in front of us and is trying to guard all of us from being attacked as Lupin moved ever closer to us.

Then Lupin made his first strike and knocked all of us down and making both Hermione and me scream. While we stood back up and started moving away faster, I saw a black dog running out of the forest and directly at Lupin.

Sirius jumped right at Lupin and knocked him right over, distracting him from attacking us. The werewolf didn't hesitate to strike back either and before too long, they were both biting at each other and attempting to hurt - if not kill in one case - each other. Then, right when Lupin turned back to us, Sirius bit into one of the werewolves legs and there came a loud, pained howl from Lupin.

The werewolf spun around and started running at Sirius at full force and I knew that Sirius wasn't going to be fast enough to get to him.

"SIRIUS!" Harry yelled and started running after them.

"NO POTTER!" Snape said and made a grab for him.

I went to run after him, but I was stopped when Snape grabbed onto my cloak. I spun around and started hitting him in the arm in attempt to get past him, but it wasn't really effective.

"Stop that!" Snape yelled at me. "You can't go after them - don't act stupid! They'll tear you to shreds!"

"I'm not going after _them_!" I yelled back. "I'm stop my brother from getting himself killed!"

Finally, I managed to throw him off of me and I sprinted after Harry, knowing that Severus wouldn't be able to catch up to me at this pace. It was true that I was worried about Sirius too, but I knew that he had more of a chance of escaping Lupin than Harry would - besides, he's my brother, so naturally I care more about his wellbeing. It took me a minute before I caught up to them, but when I got there, Lupin had already turned on Harry and Sirius was nowhere to be seen.

Without even thinking, I jumped in between the two of them and tried to block him from getting bitten at all. I would rather die myself than see my brother harmed in any way - especially if I could have prevented it.

Lupin moved quickly and jumped on me, knocking me onto the ground. He jumped at me again and managed to claw me right in the face and I felt the blood begin to ooze out of the large cut that he had made across my face. It burned really badly, but I was only glad that he didn't bite me.

"EMILY!" I heard Harry yell.

Then, to my immediate horror, I saw the werewolf jump at me again, but this time I knew that he was going to try to bite me. I threw my arms in front of my head out of instinct and braced for the pain that I was about to receive, but nothing happened. Instead, I heard a giant thud in front of me. I looked up and saw that Harry had jumped onto Lupin and was now beating him in the head with a giant rock.

I jumped up as Harry was thrown off of Lupin without much effort. Just as Lupin began to run at Harry once again, he stopped suddenly. I then heard a howl that was coming from the forest. Without much hesitation, Lupin began to run after the noise that we had heard from the forest.

It was silent for a moment, then I heard footsteps coming from behind us.

"Where are they?" a voice came up behind me.

I spun around and saw Hermione running towards us. Harry didn't answer her though and just took off in another direction that appeared to be in the direction of the lake. I assumed that this was were Sirius was and I started to panic. Had he been hurt that bad? Was he even still alive?

When we got there, Sirius - in human form - was laying at the edge of the shore and I could see him breathing deeply, but there was a lot of blood that was surrounding him. Quickly, I ran over towards him to see that he was still slightly conscious but I could tell that it wasn't going to be that way for long.

"Hold on Sirius," I said in panic and feeling a little ill from all the blood that I was loosing. "I'm going to help you-"

"Emily," Harry said next to me.

I started performing some spells on him that cleared up some of the wounds that he had on him and tried to ignore Harry as he continuously called out to me and the fact that I felt as though I was just thrown into a giant freezer - when had it gotten so cold? Maybe it was because I was bleeding so much…I was starting to get a little light headed.

"What?" I asked irritably as I wiped aside the large amount of blood that was running into my left eye. "I'm kind of busy at the moment!"

"Look…" he said in a low voice.

I looked up and was horrified at the saw at least a few dozen dementors closing in on us. I felt myself starting to drift off, not sure whether or not it was the blood or the dementors.

"Hermione…" I said, feeling my head spinning. "Y-you have…to think of a…h-happy thought…j-just listen to H-Harry…"

Everything was becoming blurry and out of focus. I could hardly tell where I was and briefly heard Harry and Hermione trying to make a Patronus, but that was all I heard before everything went black and I couldn't see anything any longer.

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><p>It felt like an eternity before my mind actually returned. Was I dead? Maybe I was, that wasn't really concerning. I wonder if Sirius and Harry were okay, I don't remember seeing them escape the dementors…maybe we're all dead…<p>

Then I started hearing voices around me and I knew that I wasn't actually dead. The voices were oddly familiar, but I couldn't really make out what they were saying. They sounded concerned, almost business like. Then I heard another voice come into the mix. It was more familiar than all the others - maybe it was Harry. Yes, it had to be. He sounded worried. What was the matter? Oh dear, now he seemed angry. What am I missing? Maybe I should try to concentrate…I kind of liked this feeling of nothingness though…it was rather boring though. So, I began to concentrate and things began to get clearer. Harry wasn't just angry - he was furious. Then the voices came in clearer to the point that I could now understand them.

"YOU'VE GOT THE WRONG MAN!" Harry was yelling.

My eyes flew open. I instantly knew what was being talked about - it couldn't be anything else. I had forgotten what Pettigrew's escape had meant at the moment, but now that I actually thought about it, I realized what his escape did to Sirius. He wasn't going to be free.

I sat up quickly and within a second I took in the whole scene. On my right was Harry who was red in the face from anger that was directed at two other people in the room - the Minister of Magic and Snape. Ron and Hermione were also in the room, but Ron was unconscious and had his leg propped up in a cast. When I sat up quickly, they all turned in my direction, though I did notice that Snape still refused to look me in the eye and he quickly turned back to Harry, a look of hatred covering his face.

"Where's Sirius?" I asked. "What are you doing to him?"

"They're taking him to the dementors," Harry said furiously.

"But he's innocent!" I shouted at them. "There are several witnesses - we all saw Peter Pettigrew!"

"Well, there really is no proof," Fudge said.

"NO PROOF?" Harry and I both yelled.

Fudge looked absolutely astounded by the way that we were talking to him, but at this point I really didn't care. How could they just kill Sirius? As I had said, there were several witnesses that Pettigrew was alive - did that count for nothing?

"You see what he did to them Minister?" Snape sighed. "He confunded them both-"

"We were _not_ confunded!" I said angrily. "You _know _that we weren't!"

The door opened up and someone else entered the room. It was Dumbledore, just the man that I wanted to see - maybe he would believe us.

"I was wondering if I could have a word with Miss Granger and Mr. and Miss Potter, Poppy," Dumbledore said to Madam Pomfrey.

Everyone went silent for a moment and turned to Dumbledore.

"Well, Miss Potter received a pretty terrible injury to her head-" Madam Pomfrey started.

"I'm fine," I said abruptly.

Though, now that she mentioned it, I had a rather terrible headache and the scratch on my face was stinging a little bit, but that could wait - there were more important things at the moment.

Madam Pomfrey nodded and both the Minister and Snape left. Just as Snape left, I saw him glance at me sideways, but quickly look away. There was no doubt that he hated me right now - I couldn't really blame him. However, as soon as the door slammed shut, it was as if my mind snapped right back to what we were dealing with.

"Sirius is innocent-" I said.

"You've got the wrong guy," Harry said. "Pettigrew is still alive-"

"He's an unregistered Animagus-he's been in the Weasley's home for twelve years-" Hermione said.

"We weren't confunded!" I said.

Dumbledore held up a single finger and silenced us all. We knew that he wasn't angry with us, it's a rare occasion to see him mad at all.

"I am sorry to say that there really isn't any proof that you are telling the truth-" Dumbledore said.

"But Professor-" Harry started.

"It's your turn to listen to me Harry," he said calmly. "As of the current moment, Professor Snape's version of the events that happened tonight are a lot more convincing, the Minister is not prepared to listen to four thirteen year olds."

"But, you believe us, don't you?" I asked.

"Yes, but I do not have the ability to convince the Minister of anything," he said. "I just don't have that kind of power…if only we just had a little more _time_."

Then Dumbledore looked directly at Hermione with a small smile on his face as if he was hinting at something.

"OF COURSE!" Hermione said with a huge smile on her face.

Both Harry and I were completely confused, but we kept quiet, hoping that they were going to get us in on what they were talking about. Yes, we did need more time, that was obvious. How could we get more time though?

"Now, pay attention," said Dumbledore quietly. "Sirius is locked in Professor Flitwick's office on the seventh floor. Thirteenth window from the right of the West Tower. If all goes well, you will be able to save more than one innocent life tonight. But remember this, you must not be seen, not a single one of you. Miss Granger, you know the law - you know what is at stake... You - must - not - be - seen. Now, three turns should do the trick, okay?"

Now I really had no idea what was going on. The dementors were going to show up any second now to take Sirius - how were we going to make it there before them?

Then Hermione reached into her robes and pulled out a small golden chain that had a small, sparkling hourglass on it.

"It's five minutes to midnight," Dumbledore said with a look at his watch. "Remember that time. Good luck!"

He smiled as he shut the door and left both Harry and me completely confused. Hermione walked over to both of us and threw the golden chain around us and took a close look at the hourglass.

"What is going on?" I asked.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

"Ready for what?" Harry asked.

She didn't answer us, instead she turned the hourglass over a total of three times and everything around us looked as if someone had clicked the rewind button on a remote control. Once everything stopped, I looked around to see that the entire room was empty of people. Where had Ron gone?

What had just happened?

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading - tell me what you think! PLEASE REVIEW and VOTE!<strong>


	26. Back in Time

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 26**

Hermione acted as though Harry and I didn't even exist and started running throughout the hallway, only stopping to make sure that no one saw us. She didn't come to a complete stop until we made it to the Entrance Hall and when she did, she pulled us both into a broom closet.

"Hermione - what is going on?" I asked her impatiently, completely sick of being kept in the dark by this point.

"We've gone back in time," Hermione said and peered out of the opening of the closet.

"Back in time-?" Harry started.

"Yes, by three hours," Hermione said quickly. "Be quiet - I think that we're coming."

I heard quiet footsteps pass by us and out of the Entrance Hall. Wait - what did she mean that it was us? She said that she went back in time, but how? Obviously it had something to do with that hourglass necklace thing that she had. Finally, the footsteps faded away and were gone.

"Hermione, what is that thing?" Harry asked.

"It's called a Time-Turner," she said. "Professor McGongall gave it to me on our first day back - that's how I've been taking so many classes."

"Well that explains a lot…" I said thinking back to all of the times that she disappeared.

"We have other things to worry about anyway," Hermione said. "Like why he wanted us to come back three hours. How is that going to help us with Sirius?"

I thought about what we had been doing three hours ago and remembered that we were going down to Hagrid's because Buckbeak was going to be executed, but it didn't really make since. What did that have to do with anything?

"We're going to save Buckbeak," Harry said suddenly.

"What?" Hermione and I asked at once.

"Doesn't it make sense?" Harry asked. "Why else would Dumbledore want to send us back to this particular moment? Why should Sirius be the only one that we save tonight?"

He had a point, a very good one at that. If Dumbledore didn't intend on us saving Buckbeak, why else would he have sent us back to this time. It only made sense. Then I thought back to something else that Dumbledore had said.

"We can use Buckbeak to fly up to Flitwick's office to save Sirius later!" I realized.

"Of course!" Hermione said. "That's brilliant!"

Once we decided that we were going to save Buckbeak, we left the Entrance Hall and ran outside and quickly concealed ourselves on the edges of the Forbidden Forest. Before long, we had made it down to Hagrid's hut and into his pumpkin patch where Buckbeak was laying. We stayed silent for a moment, trying to figure out what was going on.

"He's f-fine," Hagrid said. "I-I took him outside…thought he should get some fresh air before…well, you know…"

There was a pause and then I heard something that freaked me out. It was myself.

"Ron - it's Scabbers!" my voice said.

"Is that really what I sound like?" I whispered, hardly believing anything that was happening.

Harry rolled his eyes at me and smiled.

"We need to go in there," Harry said next to me. "We could grab Pettigrew and be done with it-"

"No we can't Harry," Hermione said frowning. "That's breaking a huge wizarding law, besides, what would you do if you saw yourself bursting into the cabin?"

"She has a point," I shrugged and looked back

I looked back at the hut and we fell silent again, listening into our past conversation. I still couldn't get over how weird it was to hear this all again.

"They're coming," Harry's voice from the hut said.

"Yeh need ter get goin,'" Hagrid said. "They can't see ya here."

We all looked at each other and over to Buckbeak.

"We have to do it now!" Harry said.

Hermione jumped up and started to walk quickly, but I stopped her before she could take another step and pulled her back into the forest.

"We can't do it now," I said.

"Why not?" they both asked me.

"Think," I said. "Won't it look a little odd to the Ministry people if they show up and Buckbeak isn't even here - that'll make Hagrid look bad!"

"That's true," Hermione sighed. "They'll think that he just set him loose…"

The back door to Hagrid's hut flew open and I watched as our past selves walked out of it. Hearing our voices was one thing, but seeing ourselves was a whole new kind of freaky. It was just weird.

"Go now!" Hagrid said. "I don't want yer to see it."

Our past selves threw the Invisibility Cloak around us and marched away from the scene. I wasn't really sure when they - well, we…this is confusing - left the area, but I remembered that we were in kind of a hurry to get out of the area at the time, so I knew that we were probably out of sight now.

"What now?" I asked.

"I guess we wait until the Minster sees Buckbeak, then we'll take him the first chance we get," Hermione said.

We all nodded and waited for our cue. It didn't take long before I heard the loud voice of who I assumed to be Macnair, the executioner.

"Where's the beast?" he asked.

"He's…outside," Hagrid said.

I saw Macnair stick his head out of the door to get a good look at Buckbeak before he went back in to listen to what was going on. Next, I heard Fudge's voice coming from the cabin. He was talking about them signing some papers for the execution and I took that as a sign that we should get a move on and get Buckbeak away.

"Macnair saw him - I think that it's time," Harry said. "I'll do it, you two stay here."

Harry stepped out slowly and quietly and headed straight for the hippogriff. He bowed slightly and Buckbeak bowed back after a second. Then Harry grabbed the ropes that tied him down and started to pull at them, but it wasn't really doing much. I ran over quietly and tried to help. It took a minute, but we were in the forest just as I heard the Minister's voice once again.

"Where's the beast?" Fudge asked. "Hagrid-?"

"No, I just saw him here," Macnair said. "The beast was just here!"

"We'll search for him-" Fudge said.

"You think you'll be able to find him?" Dumbledore chuckled. "Buckbeak is a hippogriff - if he got away, I highly doubt that he just _ran_ away. He's probably been flying for miles by now."

We didn't stand around to listen any further because we were already moving. Attached to the rope, we managed to have Buckbeak follow us back up towards the castle where we decided to wait until we could do anything else.

We sat by the edge of the forest and watched as everything unfolded. First, I watched as Ron ran after what I knew to be Scabbers - Peter - and shortly afterwards Sirius jumped in and was dragging Ron towards the tunnel underneath the Whomping Willow.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I heard myself scream as my past self started running into the tunnel after Ron and Sirius.

"How long did you know?" Hermione asked me.

"That Sirius was framed?" I asked her. "Well, I met him in the beginning of the year while he was still in his dog form. After a while, he showed me who he really was and explained everything…"

"Why didn't you tell us?" Harry asked.

"You wouldn't have believed me - you would have wanted to kill him…" I said.

We watched as Lupin ran down towards the Whomping Willow and prodded the knot on the tree with a large stick that he had picked up on the way. After another second, he was inside of the tunnel.

"You never told me what happened after I passed out," I said to Harry. "What happened to all of the dementors?"

"There was a patronus - a powerful one that came by," Harry said.

"Whose was it?" I asked.

Harry paused for a minute and looked at the ground. He almost looked a little embarrassed, but after a minute, he finally spoke up.

"I think that it was Dad…" he said quietly.

I didn't know what to say. I knew that he wouldn't lie about this or make it up, but it was impossible - our father had been dead for years now. There must have been some kind of mistake, but I couldn't tell him that.

"Harry…your father is…dead…" Hermione said slowly.

"You think that I don't know that?" Harry said quickly. "That's just what I saw…"

I looked back towards the Whomping Willow as I saw someone else appear. It was Snape. He was walking quickly down from the castle and only stopped when he retrieved the Invisibility Cloak that was laying a little ways away from the tree. Then he picked up a nearby stick and hit the knot that was on the tree to make it go still. After another second, he disappeared under the cloak and into the tunnel.

Seeing him made me remember what had happened earlier - well, later in this case I guess. It really did hurt me to see Snape look at me like that - the look of complete betrayal and hurt. When I had begun to trust Sirius, I never really thought about how it would effect anyone else other than Harry. I guess the thought never crossed my mind that it would hurt Snape.

I looked down at the locket that was on my wrist and slowly went through the charms until I found the one that was a snake. Snape had been in love with my mother - the comment that Sirius had made earlier to him had confirmed that. I wonder what had happened to them. I knew that they had been close at one point, otherwise Sirius wouldn't have said what he did, but what happened? I guess that I would never figure out and I know now that Snape would never tell me…there wasn't really much doubt that he hated me for trusting Sirius over him.

I looked over at Harry for a minute and wondered if he even had the faintest idea that Snape had loved Lily. No, of course he didn't - how would he have known? He hated Snape with a passion and he didn't care about his past at all. I knew for a fact that I would never tell Harry what I knew either. It isn't often that I keep things from Harry - aside from the whole Sirius thing - but I knew that Harry would be angry if he really knew. That and he would probably mock Snape for not getting my mother and make sure to remind him that it was really our father that had gotten her in the end. Harry would hurt him and I couldn't let him do that.

"Here we come," Hermione interrupted my thoughts.

We watched them - well, _us _I guess - come out from the tunnel underneath the Whomping Willow. I saw Harry, Sirius, and me come out last and we were talking. I thought back to that conversation and I knew now that what Sirius had asked was now impossible. We were not going to move out of the Dursleys to live with him - there was no way, not even if we could save him. Sirius was going to have to be on the run constantly and there was no way that we could be around him.

"Maybe we could try to find Pettigrew-" I said.

"How are you expecting to find a rat in the dark?" Hermione snapped. "Besides, it's Sirius that we're here for Emily - not Pettigrew."

"But Pettigrew has a lot to do with saving Sirius," I retorted. "Maybe we could just-"

"She's right Emily," Harry sighed. "There is no way that we're going to be able to find him in the dark - he's a rat…"

We watched for a little while longer and then I heard myself yelling.

"Professor Lupin!" my past self yelled as she - well, I - pointed into the sky towards the full moon.

We watched in horror as Lupin transformed near us and Sirius ran over to try to help him. The rest of our past selves watched Lupin, completely stunned at what was happening.

"RUN!" Sirius was yelling at us.

"Shouldn't we do something?" I asked as Lupin transformed further.

"We cannot interfere," Hermione insisted.

It was creepy to watch everything unfold just as it had done before. Sirius was thrown the exact same way and we all stood there, stunned and unmoving, as we watched our professor in his complete wolf form. Hermione - the past one - stepped forward and said something inaudible and Lupin let out that same howl that he had done before. Next thing I knew, he was moving towards our past selves and Snape jumped out from underneath the tree to get in between us in Lupin.

I guess that I hadn't really thought about it at the moment, but that was extremely brave of him. He was risking getting bitten by a werewolf just to make sure that we were okay. I am going to have to thank him for that…not that it'll mean anything. I felt my eyes water up a little at the thought of never being able to talk to him again, but I didn't cry - I needed to stay focused.

The next thing that I knew, my past self was running after Harry and Lupin and then she - I mean I…this is still weird - got scratched directly in the face. Then Lupin turned to the past Harry and went to jump on him. I heard a loud howling coming from directly beside me.

"Hermione - what are you doing?" Harry asked.

"I had to do something - he was going to kill you both!" she explained.

"So much for not interfering…" I muttered.

There was something that Hermione hadn't thought through though **(A/N: three similar words together…that wasn't intentional…XD)**. Lupin was running right at us.

"RUN!" I yelled and ran to untie Buckbeak from a tree. "_Now_!"

We all ran through the forest, jumping around every tree and trying to put as much distance between ourselves and Lupin as we could. Before long, we finally couldn't see or hear him anymore and we stopped suddenly.

"We need to get to the lake - the dementors!" Harry said.

We all ran towards the lake and saw that the dementors were already headed towards our past selves. I could just barely see the past versions Harry, Hermione, Sirius, and myself on the shore of the lake, looking up at the dementors. I saw blood oozing down my face and I looked even paler than I did normally. Not a second later, both Sirius and I passed out and were on the floor. I also noted that when I fell, I hit the ground pretty hard with my head. I guess that explains the headache that I've been trying to ignore since I had woken up.

"Dad should show up any second," Harry said hopefully. "He was right here - I saw him."

The dementors got closer and Harry and Hermione (the past ones) kept yelling out the spell for a Patronus, but it wasn't effective. They were going to lose it.

"Harry, maybe I should-" I started.

"No, he's going to be here," Harry insisted.

After another second, all three of us started to seriously doubt it. Hermione's past self had already fainted and Harry's wasn't far behind. He was already on the ground and just looking up at the approaching dementors.

"Harry…I don't think that he's coming," Hermione whispered.

Harry looked around for a second and then ran forward all of a sudden.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" he yelled.

Suddenly a huge, silver stag came running from his wand. The stag ran at the dementors and they all floated away and left the area completely, leaving our past selves behind. Once they were all gone, Harry stepped back and looked across the lake in amazement.

"Of course," Harry said. "I didn't see our dad - I saw myself!"

It wasn't long afterwards that someone showed up to the other side of the lake where we all laid unconscious. It was Snape. He walked over to each of the bodies to see who all was laying there. He only stopped once, directly in front of my body that had blood all around it. He knelt down and grabbed my wrist frantically - he was checking for a pulse, making sure that I was still alive. He knelt there for a only a moment longer before he waved his wand and four stretchers appeared. All of the bodies flew up into the air and onto the stretchers before he moved on, the stretchers floating behind him.

Then I noticed that two sets of eyes were staring at me. Harry looked confused, but Hermione looked as though she was about to cry and I even saw her eyes start to water.

"What?" I asked irritably as the other side of the lake cleared.

"He really cares about you Emily," Hermione said quietly, a tear threatening to escape her eye.

"I doubt it now…" I said looking down. "He probably hates me for siding with Sirius…"

"Emily," Harry said. "You do realize that this was _after_ all of that happened, right?"

"He was _only checking my pulse_," I said as I moved over to Buckbeak.

"He didn't check our pulses, did he?" Hermione asked knowingly.

"Who cares?" I snapped. "We have to get to Sirius."

Harry gave me a concerned look before we set off towards the castle again to get Sirius before it was too late. We all gave a bow to Buckbeak, who nodded in return, and then we jumped onto his back.

Soon enough, we were flying up towards Flitwick's office to where Sirius was. When we arrived at the West Tower, we saw Sirius and he jumped up when we landed.

"How-?" Sirius asked.

"There isn't any time to explain - you have to go quickly before anyone sees you," Harry said.

Sirius nodded and looked around at all of us and gave a smile to us all. He went to jump up on Buckbeak, but stopped himself and ran over to me and gave me a big hug. I hugged him back and smiled.

"Thank you for everything Emily," Sirius said, not letting me go.

"Sirius - you have to go," I smiled. "I'll write to you - I promise!"

Sirius smiled and nodded and jumped onto Buckbeak's back. He gave a final look at Harry and smiled. The next thing I knew, he was flying off into the sky, off to freedom.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I hope that you liked this chapter! There will be at least one more chapter - if not two more - in this book before I start The Goblet of Fire. So, if you haven't voted already, then VOTE! I am considering extending the poll out until I actually write the chapter that includes that decision - so don't forget to vote.<strong>

**HayatoxAkemi - Don't worry - you'll see where that one goes in the next chapter! :D**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	27. Everything Works Out

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 27**

"We have ten minutes!" Hermione said just as Sirius was out of sight.

We all looked at each other and quickly ran through the castle, stopping quickly if we heard any noise or caught sight of anyone. We didn't run into too much trouble and finally we made it to the point where we could hear Dumbledore telling us good luck. He was just about to shut the door when he caught sight of us.

"Well?" he asked.

"He's gone," I smiled.

"Excellent," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Here, I'll let you in - I believe that you have already left in there…"

He opened up the door and we ran into the room to see it just as we had left it before we had gone back in time. Ron was laying in his hospital bed, his leg propped up. Just as we moved back to where our beds were, Madam Pomfrey came out into the open.

"Is everyone finally gone?" she asked irritably.

"I believe so," I smiled.

It was just then that we all turned towards the door, alerted by the sound of an angry voice that was coming from the other end. This could only mean one thing, they had found that Sirius wasn't in the castle any more.

"THE POTTERS HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH THIS!" Snape was yelling.

Then the door burst open and Dumbledore, Fudge, and Snape were back in the room. Madam Pomfrey rolled her eyes and stomped back into her office on the side of the hospital wing.

"Severus, you know as well as I do that the Potters were locked in here the entire time," Dumbledore smiled at Snape.

Snape ignored Dumbledore completely and turned directly towards Harry.

"What are you up to?" he snarled. "What did you do?"

Harry looked over at me and raised an eyebrow, suggesting that Snape was completely delusional. I half expected smoke to start rolling out of his ears he was so angry. Dumbledore, acting completely innocent, looked at each one of us with a small smile, then back to Snape.

"Severus," Dumbledore said. "I assure you that these children were locked inside of this room just ten minutes ago. Unless you are suggesting that they were two places at once, I don't see how it is possible that they could have done anything to aid Sirius Black."

I don't know what was funnier, the fact that Dumbledore was acting to innocent about the situation, or that Snape was practically twitching because he was so angry. It was quite the toss up…

"Now that we have that settled," Dumbledore smiled. "I would think that Poppy would be extraordinarily happy if we were to carry our discussion into another room so that she may attend to her patients."

It wasn't soon after they left that Ron woke up from his slumber. When he did, we explained everything that happened while he was out. He was only angry at the fact that we didn't wake him up to join in, but he wouldn't have been able to make it around on that leg anyway, so he wasn't to mad.

We were allowed out of the hospital wing the very next day. Aside from the abnormally large gash that went across my face and another few scratches here and there, I felt fine - my headache had finally gone away.

As soon as we got out, we were thrown into celebrations that were going on throughout the school. I had almost forgotten that we had just finished up our exams - all of that felt like a century ago to me. One of the biggest events was that there was going to be another Hogsmeade trip, something that none of us - meaning Harry, Hermione, Ron, and myself - wanted to go to. Instead, we all decided to sit outside in the sun. While we were outside, we noticed that Hagrid was celebrating too.

"Beaky escaped!" Hagrid cried. "I couldn't believe it! He got away while the executioner was here - I couldn't believe it!"

We celebrated with him for a while about Buckbeak's survival, but something distracted me just as Hagrid grabbed the butterbeer from his cabinet. When I looked back up to the castle, my first thought went to Snape. I knew that he hated me, but I decided that I wasn't going to be the childish one in this situation.

"Hey, I'll be right back…" I said slowly.

"Where are ya goin'?" Hagrid asked.

"I just…need to talk to someone…" I said as I walked away from his hut. "I'll see you all later."

It took me a minute to get up to the castle, but I made it a good ways through the building without running into anyone. Just as I was about to turn off towards the dungeons, I noticed Lupin walking up some stairs. When I caught his eyes, he looked at me in horror and stopped in his tracks. Then he walked slowly over to me, hanging his head in shame.

"Professor-" I started.

"Please, don't call me that," Lupin sighed. "I guess you haven't heard then…"

"Heard what?" I asked him, he still refused to look at my face.

"Word got out about what happened last night, not to mention the fact that Snape told everyone that I was a werewolf…so I resigned…"

"You what?" I shouted.

He looked up at me, startled by my reaction. I knew that he regretted this action because he grimaced as soon as he caught sight of the scar that was across my face and looked away quickly.

"Seriously, if you keep doing that I'm going to hit you," I snapped.

"I'm really sorry Emily," he said quietly. "I…"

I had never seen him look so upset before, but he looked almost to the point of tears by the looks of him. I felt even worse because I knew that he didn't mean to do this - it wasn't really his fault either, he had no control over himself and it's not like he chose to be a werewolf.

"Don't worry about it," I smiled. "It's kind of neat looking anyway."

He let out a strained laugh and shook his head. I knew that he was still ashamed and there really wasn't anything that I could say to make him feel any better. It must be hard to become a werewolf…

"I guess that I'll see you again sometime," I smiled. "You should know that you are the greatest Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher that this school has ever had - everyone says so."

"I bet they aren't saying that now…" he mumbled.

"It doesn't matter that you're a werewolf," I said. "You're still a great guy and that's all that really matters, maybe if everyone else opened their eyes then they would see that."

Lupin smiled at me and pulled me into a tight hug. We stood there for a minute before we let go of each other.

"You're just like your mother, you know that?" he smiled. "She had a way of seeing the beauty in others when other people couldn't see that in themselves…"

"I'll miss you, Lupin," I smiled.

"Don't worry, I'll keep in touch," he smiled.

Then we parted ways and I continued down to the dungeons where I assumed Snape would be. I had been told by some others that he had been sulking in there all day so far. When I made it to the bottom of the staircase, I saw that the door to his classroom was open and I saw several fumes coming out of the room. I looked in through the doorway and saw Snape walking into the ingredients cabinet, getting something for the potion he was making I would assume. I braced myself just as he walked back into the room and stopped dead when he saw me standing there.

"Can I help you?" he asked in a dry voice.

"I wanted to talk to you," I said. "I know that you'll probably just ignore everything that I say, but I figured that I would at least try…"

He remained silent as he walked over to his potion to continue brewing. I wasn't sure if he was listening or not, but I started anyway.

"I wanted to say that I'm sorry," I said. "I really am. When I met Sirius in the beginning of the year, he explained everything to me and I really believed him. I guess that I am naïve, but everything he said made since and he never tried to hurt me in any way…so…I trusted him…I didn't really think about how my decisions were going to effect anyone else, I was being careless…"

I stopped for a moment and noticed his eyes flicker over toward me for a moment letting me know that he was actually listening, which made me feel a little better.

"You should know that I didn't choose his side over yours," I said. "I just didn't want either of you to get hurt, so that's why I stepped in your way…I didn't want you to become a murderer…"

"But it's okay if your _godfather_ is a murderer though," he spat. "I don't care what he says, it is _his_ fault that the Dark Lord found your parents that night."

"Don't worry, he believes that too," I said. "And yes, he is my godfather, why does that matter?"

"It doesn't…" he lied obviously.

"You're right, it doesn't. It doesn't matter at all. He is my _godfather_ - that's all he will ever be."

Snape looked up for a moment, apparently not understanding what I was saying.

"He'll never be what you are to me," I said quietly, not meeting his eyes. "I know that it doesn't matter to you, but you've always been there for me, understood me in a way that not even Harry does. I guess that, in a way…you're kind of like the father I never had…"

I didn't dare look at him when I said this because I was afraid that he was going to make me feel like an idiot like he's done to so many people before me.

"I guess that I'll see you later…" I said. "Thank you for listening…"

He didn't say anything to me and I wasn't really sure if he was listening or not. I was guessing that he was because I didn't hear him stirring the potion while I finished up talking. I left the room without another word and walked up to the common room where I wouldn't have to face anyone with my puffy eyes that were threatening to let tears out.

* * *

><p>The last day of term finally came around and I had to say that the year, once again, wasn't a very good one. The only real thing that I was happy about was that I had managed to pass all of my exams, receiving the best marks in Potions just as I expected.<p>

I guess that it wouldn't be as bad if I didn't have to face Snape after my discussion with him. It was bad enough that I had to show up to his class still and I noticed that he downright refused to make eye contact with me ever since the conversation. I think it would almost have been better if he would have just screamed at me at how much he hated me instead of just not knowing at all what he was thinking.

The only thing I was looking forward to was the end of the year feast that was being held not long from now. I was walking alone in the corridors, on my way to the Great Hall. I had noticed that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had picked up the habit of talking about how I was being so anti-social and how I seemed like a kind of ghost ever since the night of Sirius's escape. I had walked into them talking about me several times and it was getting rather irritating.

I was about to step through the door to the Great Hall when I ran directly into someone, making me stumble backwards a little bit. When I looked up, I was horrified to see Snape looking down at me.

"Sorry," I muttered.

I went to walk quickly into the Hall, but I was yanked by the arm backwards and pulled into someone. It took me a second to realize that Snape was actually…hugging me. I was in complete and utter shock to begin with, but then I finally threw my arms around him.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered. "For everything…"

For the first time in a long time, I started to cry. Snape had taken me completely by surprise and I couldn't hold anything back. I just stood there for a while, my arms around him and tears running down my face. When I stopped, we finally separated and he wiped away a final tear that was running down my face. I looked into his dark eyes and noticed that they were a little puffy.

"I really didn't mean to-" I said sounding a bit shaky from all the crying.

"It doesn't matter," Snape said, cutting me off completely. "He's your godfather…I shouldn't have been so angry…"

We both smiled at each other and looked into the Great Hall. Everyone in there was talking to their friends, exchanging some things before the end of the year, and some just looked like they were ready for the feast to start. The only person that was looking in our direction was Professor Dumbledore. I could see from all the way where I was that he had a big smile on his face.

* * *

><p>Everyone began to board the train for our trip back home not long after the feast had finished. Although I never liked leaving Hogwarts, I knew that this time it wasn't going to be as bad now that I knew that Sirius was going to be okay and we would be able to stay in contact to some degree. Before we left though, I made a final trip to the courtyard by myself, thinking about everything that had happened this year and just looking around.<p>

"Um...Emily?" a voice came up from behind me.

I turned around slowly and saw Draco Malfoy stepping out into the clearing. Unlike most of the times that I had seen him this year, he didn't have his usual smug grin on his face. For once, he didn't appear to be the usual cocky guy that both of us knew that he was. Then I noticed something that he was holding.

"What's with the flowers?" I asked him.

"They're for you," Draco said looking at the ground.

"Listen," I said calmly. "You and I both know that we wouldn't work out-"

"I know that," Draco smiled. "I actually came here to apologize."

Wait...what? Draco Malfoy was apologizing?

"I know that I've been...more obnoxious than usual this year towards you, and I'm not really sure why," he said. "I didn't really have any right to act the way that I have been and I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I get it if you won't except it..."

I was shocked. It was odd to see Draco in this light, after all, he is usually just that rich, snobby guy and now he actually seemed to be fairly decent. What had gotten into him?

"Don't worry about it," I smiled at him. "I'm sorry too. I probably could have been a little nicer about the whole situation, I guess."

"We haven't exactly been...nice to each other in the past anyway," Draco laughed.

"True," I laughed. "Maybe we could change all that...start over maybe?"

"I think I would like that," Draco smiled.

"Just as friends, right?" I asked, just making sure he wasn't still hoping.

"I don't think that we could ever be anything more than that honestly," he said truthfully.

I nodded, knowing that he was right. We came from completely different backgrounds and there was no way that this could go any further - even if we wanted it to. I heard the train whistle across the grounds that signaled that it was time to go and we both walked together towards the train. We were the last ones there and just as we were about to board, I stopped him.

"One question," I said and he looked over at me. "Why did you suddenly have this crazy attraction for me?"

"I liked you for a while," Draco admitted. "I guess that I just decided to show that this year. It was just one of those weird phases - don't worry though, I'm over it."

I nodded slowly, understanding, and he smiled at me. We stepped onto the train and just before I stepped into my compartment, he stopped me again.

"Forgot to give you these," he said as he handed me the flowers.

"Thank you," I smiled. "They're beautiful."

"Just like you," he smiled.

"I thought that-"

"Just because I said I was over you doesn't mean that you aren't hot anymore," he laughed.

I rolled my eyes and continued on into my compartment, leaving the traces of that odd phase in our relationship completely behind.

* * *

><p>Before I knew it, we were back on the train to King's Cross Station. It had been a long year, as it always was, but I wasn't ready to return to Privet Drive. I never really was I guess - if it were up to me, I would stay at Hogwarts year round. Unfortunately, there was a rule against that.<p>

"You know, you all should come over to my house this summer," Ron said. "Dad's getting tickets to see the Quidditch World Cup from work - do you think that your aunt and uncle will let you go?"

"Just don't call them on the telephone again Ron," I laughed.

"I know how to work it now-"

"Just don't call," Harry laughed.

We rode the most of the way there talking all about what was going to happen during the Quidditch World Cup, something that Hermione and I weren't really interested in. Then, there came an owl that was carrying a fairly large letter just outside our window.

"Open the window up," I said to Ron, who was sitting next to it.

The owl flew in and dropped the letter in between Harry and me and I picked it up to read it aloud so everyone in our compartment - meaning Ron, Harry, and Hermione - could hear.

_Dear Harry and Emily, _

_I hope this finds you before you reach your aunt and uncle. I don't know whether they're used to owl post. Buckbeak and I are in hiding. I won't tell you where, in case this owl falls into the wrong hands. I have some doubt about his reliability, but he is the best I could find, and he did seem eager for the job. I believe the dementors are still searching for me, but they haven't a hope of finding me here. I am planning to allow some Muggles to glimpse me soon, a long way from Hogwarts, so that the security on the castle will be lifted. There is something I never got around to telling you during our brief meeting Harry. It was I who sent you the Firebolt _("HA!" Hermione said triumphantly). _I would also like to apologize for the fright I think I gave you that night last year when you left your uncle's house. I already told Emily, but I had only hoped to get a glimpse of you before starting my journey north, but I think the sight of me alarmed you. I am enclosing something else for you both, which I think will make your next year at Hogwarts more enjoyable. If ever you need me, send word. Your owl will find me. _

_I'll write again soon. _

_Sirius _

Enclosed, to both of our amazement, was a permission slip to go to Hogsmeade. I'm sure that Dumbledore would definitely accept this.

"Wait, there is something else," I said as I picked up another note and read it aloud: "_I thought your ftiend Ron might like to keep this owl, as it's my fault he no longer has a rat."_

I'm not really sure how happy Ron was about keeping the hyper little owl, but he wasn't complaining.

Before long, we finally made it to the train station where we all said our goodbyes to one another and promised that we would write every chance that we got. There was only one person that I couldn't seem to find in the crowd to say goodbye to.

"See you next year Emily," his voice came up behind me.

I turned around and saw George standing behind me, trying not to get knocked over by the crowd that surrounded us. He had an awkward smile on his face, but still looked as adorable as he usually did.

"Oh, just kiss her already," Fred said giving me a quick hug beside me.

I laughed and looked over at George as Fred walked away to say something to someone else. George leaned down and kissed me. It felt just like last time, but didn't last too long because someone bumped into me. It was none other than Mrs. Weasley.

"Awwww!" Mrs. Weasley cooed. "My little Georgey-"

"No, mum, please don't," George begged his mother, his face going a little red.

"Hey - we have to go," Harry said behind me. "I don't think the Dursleys are going to wait any longer."

I waved goodbye to the Weasleys and ran off with Harry over to where the Dursley's car sat. Right when we stopped walking, Uncle Vernon noticed the letter that Harry was still holding.

"What is that?" he said sounding annoyed. "It better not be another one of those forms because I'm not-"

"It's a letter from our godfather," Harry said happily.

"You don't have a godfather," he said.

"Actually we do," I smiled at him. "Remember that man that was on the news last summer? The one that was a convicted murderer - yeah, that's him. He was our parents best friend and apparently he is our godfather."

"He likes to keep in touch with us... keep up with our news... check if we're happy..." Harry smiled. "Says that if he doesn't hear from us for a good while that he might go looking for us - he's a good man that Sirius Black."

We both smiled at each other as we watched our uncle's eyes get wide and the look of complete horror that covered his face. I just had this funny feeling that he was going to be a little nicer to us this summer.

Once we were all in the car, we took off away from the station, both of us watching it as it disappeared in the distance. I knew that this summer was going to be a little better than the last, but I still couldn't wait to go back to Hogwarts.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, that's it for this book! I really hope that you liked it and tell me what you think of this chapter and the whole book in general. I should be updating the day after tomorrow with the first chapter of <strong>_**The Potter Twins and the Goblet of Fire**_**. Don't forget that I extended the poll for a little longer, so VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!**

**So, I figured that I might reply to the comments that were left on the last chapter, if you didn't make any, you don't have to read this.**

**1: Yeah, I do realize that this idea has been used several times before, sorry about that. I didn't really mean to make a story that was so common, but I hope that mine is at least a little bit unique.**

**The Agent of Fire: Honestly, I am going on whatever the poll says and I'm really sorry if your opinion isn't the one that wins the vote. Whichever way the poll goes, I hope to make it as interesting as I can and I hope that you'll still like it.**

**CheerfullyBlue: I really like the relationship between Emily and Snape and I hope that you like how that turned out here! Tell me what you think!**

**Olivia Marie 20: Thanks! I hope that you liked this one too!**

**ZabuzasGirl: I hope that you liked Snape's reaction!**

**Sara: Yeah, I'm really sorry that the poll won't allow anonymous votes - I wish that it would. However, I am sort of afraid to count in the anonymous votes because I'm really afraid that people would vote more than once. :(**

**Princess Twila: I hope that you liked what I did between Snape and Emily - tell me what you think!**

**lostfeather1: Thank you so much! Can't wait to keep reading your story! :D**

**Luli Cullen: Thank you! I hope that you keep reading!**

**charlie167: Wow, you read this in a nightclub? That's awesome! I'm happy that you like the story and I hope that you keep reading!**

**animelover kitty: Thanks for reading - I hope that you liked this one!**

**GhostOfFanfiction: Thank you sooooo much! That really does mean a lot that you think that I'm a good author! By the way, I seriously love your idea and I will seriously consider using that one! :D**

**I hope you keep reading my stories!**

**-GryffindorGirl347**


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